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Karnak. 


Hypostyle  Hall— The  Leaning  Column. 
Plate  I. 


IN  THE  TIME  OF  THE 
PHARAOHS 


BY 

ALEXANDRE  MORET 

SUB-DIRECTOR  OF  THE  MUSEE  GUIMET 
PROFESSOR  OF  EGYPTOLOGY  IN  L'e'cOLE  DES  HAUTES  ETUDES 


TRANSLATED  BY 

MME.  MORET 


WITH  lb  PLA  TES  AND  A  MAP 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS  j 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
^Tbe  Iftnicftei'bocftec  press 


Copyright,  1911 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


PREFACE 


The  following  articles  grouped  under  the  head- 
ing In  the  Time  of  the  Pharaohs  are  without  any 
apparent  connection.  They  first  appeared  in 
the  well-known  French  magazine,  Revue  de 
Paris,  and  were  written  expressly  with  the  inten- 
tion of  initiating  the  French  public  at  large  into 
a  branch  of  history  and  archaeology  as  yet  dealt 
with  only  by  a  very  small  number  of  specialists, 
whose  researches  appear  in  scholarly  publica- 
tions that  are  not  readily  accessible  to  the  lay- 
man. Hence  the  need  of  presenting  the  subject  in 
non-technical  language.  The  Review  above  men- 
tioned asked  the  author  of  this  book  to  give  a 
popular  account  of  the  interesting  but  complicated 
problems  in  Egypt  raised  by  the  discoveries  of 
the  last  ten  or  fifteen  years;  the  task  was  not  an 
easy  one  because  there  are  hardly  any  subjects 
that  have  as  yet  reached  the  point  where  technical 
discussion  can  be  dispensed  with  and  also  because 
it  is  difficult  as  yet  to  speak  with  finality.    In  his 

account  of  prehistoric  Egypt,  and  elsewhere  in 

iii 


iv 


Preface 


the  volume,  the  author  has  alluded  to  theories 
and  views  that  have  already  been  superseded, 
but  that  are  nevertheless  interesting,  inasmuch  as 
they  exemplify  the  difficulties  scholars  have  to 
face,  and  give  some  indication  of  the  amount  of 
work  that  remains  to  be  done  in  Egyptology,  a 
new  science  that  is  greatly  in  need  of  students 
and  that  has  rewards  in  store  for  those  who  work 
conscientiously. 

The  author's  statements  are  the  outcome  of 
several  investigations  in  Egypt  undertaken  on 
behalf  of  the  French  Government,  and  of  an  un- 
biassed study  of  original  documents;  he  tried  to 
gather  together  every  scrap  of  information  con- 
tributed by  later  investigations  in  order  to  bring 
his  statements  down  to  date.  He  hopes  that  the 
following  papers  will  be  of  service  to  the  ever- 
increasing  number  of  tourists  visiting  Egypt, 
enabling  them  to  form  an  acquaintance  with  the 
religion  and  moral  ideas  of  the  ancient  Egyptians, 
and  putting  them  in  touch  with  our  present  know- 
ledge of  Eastern  history.  It  is  also  hoped  that 
this  book  may  be  useful  to  students  of  general 
history,  and  of  philosophy,  as  well  as  to  those 
interested  in  Biblical  research.  As  every  source 
has  been  carefully  indicated  in  the  footnotes, 
this  book  may  also  serve  as  a  supplement  to  the 


Preface 


V 


various  histories  of  Egypt  that  are  in  use  at  the 
present  time,  for  these  histories  touch  upon  some 
points  that  require  re-examination  in  the  light 
of  new  documents,  and  do  not  give  any  attention 
to  others. 

I  gratefully  acknowledge  the  invaluable  service 
rendered  me  by  my  wife  in  translating  this  book 
and  my  thanks  are  due  to  her  also  for  constant 
secretarial  assistance. 

Alexandre  Moret. 

Paris,  June  i8,  1910. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  The  Restoration  of  the  Egyptian  Temples       .  i 

II.    Pharaonic  Diplomacy  »  55 

III.  Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  99 

IV.  Around  the  Pyramids  166 

V.    "  The  Book  of  the  Dead"  218 

VI.    Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  268 

Index  305 


vii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Plate  L    Karnak.  Frontispiece 
Hypostyle  Hall — The  Leaning  Column 


Plate  11. 
1. 
II. 

Plate  III. 
I. 
II. 

Plate  IV. 
I. 

II. 

Plate  V. 
1. 
IL 

III. 
IV. 


Karnak  

The  Shattered  Pylons 
Western  Face  of  the  Hypostyle  Hall 
in  1904 

Karnak.  

After  the  Earthquake  of  1899 
The  Taking  Down  of  a  Column 

Karnak.  

Inclined  Plane  Used  in  Taking  Down 

the  Columns 
Scaffolding  Used  in  Ancient  Times  in 

Constructing 

Prehistoric  Ceramics 
Woman-Shaped   Vase.  (J.  Capart: 

Debuts  de  Vart  en  Egypte 
Vase  with  Human  Face. 
Bird- Shaped  Vase.  (J.  Capart:  Debuts 

de  Vart  en  Egypte.) 


22 


28 


40 


128 


X 


Illustrations 


PAGE 

Plate  VI.    Zaouiet-el-Aryan.     .       .       .  170 

I.  The  Incline  Used  in  Descending 
II.    The  Vat  of  Granite. 

Plate  VIL   Archaic  Pyramids.   .       .  .174 
I.    The  Step  Pyramid  of  Sakkarah, 
Erected  by  Zeser. 

II.  Pyramid  of  Sneferii  at  Meidun. 

Plate  VIII.    Gizeh  178 

I.  Sphinx  and  Pyramid  of  Chephren. 

II.  Temple  of  the  Sphinx. 

Plate  IX.    Gizeh  184 

I.    The  Great  Pyramids  of  the  IVth 
Dynasty. 

II.    The  Pyramid  of  Ounas,  Chapel  and 
Tomb. 

Plate  X.   Gizeh  186 

Pyramids   of   Cheops   and  Chephren 
(northern  face) 

Plate  XI.   In  the  Great  Pyramid.     .  .188 

I.  Exploration  of  the  Chambers. 
II.    The  Large  Ascending  Gallery.' 

From  La  Description  de  I  'Egypte. 

Plate  XII.    Gizeh  196 

I.    West  Side  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 

II.  A  Mastaba  with  Two  Doors. 


Illustrations 


xi 


Plate  XIII.   In  the  Tombs  at  Sakkarah.    .  200 
I.    Stela,   False   Door,   Bust,  and 
Statues. 

II.    False  Door  and  Statue  of  the 
Double  (Mera). 

Plate  XIV.    Sakkarah  204 

Bas-Reliefs    of    a    Funeral  Chamber 
(Phtahhetep). 

Plate  XV.    Tomb  of  Phtahnefer.      .       .  224 
The  Funeral  Ceremony. 

Plate  XVI  236 

The  Judgment  of  the  Dead  (from  a 
papyrus). 

Map  At  End 


In  the 
Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


CHAPTER  I 
The  Restoration  of  the  Egyptian  Temples 

At  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century, 
several  of  the  "  eternal  dwellings  "of  Ancient  Egypt 
had  almost  completely  crumbled.  As  they  had 
withstood  for  ages  the  ravages  of  time,  they  were 
considered  indestructible.  Their  dedications  read : 
Temples  to  endure  for  millions  of  years,  founded 
for  ever  and  ever. "  These  assurances  of  eternity, 
which  were  formerly  thought  to  be  of  magic 
power,  had  survived,  though  the  dogmas  of 
old  had  been  forgotten  and  the  ancient  rites 
abolished. 

The  oldest  of  these  sanctuaries  were,  however, 

in  a  state  of  utter  ruin.    What  remained  of  the 

splendid  edifice  that  Ousirniri  of  the  Vth  dynasty 

I 


2 


Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


had  raised  in  honour  of  the  Sun,  or  of  the  temple 
in  pyramidal  form  built  by  a  Montouhotpou  of 
the  Xlth  dynasty?^  Messrs.  von  Bissing  and 
Naville,  who  cleared  them,  found  only  bare 
terraces,  scattered  bas-reliefs,  and  crumbling 
colonnades.  At  Karnak,  a  national  sanctuary 
where  every  Pharaoh,  from  the  chieftains  of  the 
primitive  clans  to  the  Roman  Caesars,  used  to 
build  a  temple  or  a  chapel,  the  visitor  versed  in 
such  matters  could  still  make  out,  quite  near  the 
pylons  of  Thothmes,  marvellous  carved  blocks, 
half  buried,  which  were  all  that  remained  of  the 
effaced  halls  erected  by  the  Ousirtasens  and 
Amenophises.  Such  ruins  could  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  make  a  strong  impression. 

The  eye  prefers  to  rest  securely  on  the  buildings 
of  the  Ramses,  or  of  the  Bubastite  kings.  There, 
at  least,  the  general  plan  of  the  Egyptian  temple 
still  stands  out  distinctly,  though  many  walls 
have  fallen  in  and  the  structure  is  complicated. 

An  avenue  of  sphinxes  leads  to  a  high  gate,  de- 
fended by  two  pylons  similar  to  the  towers  of  our 
cathedrals.  In  front  of  the  gate,  are  placed  two 
obelisks,  as  well  as  colossal  statues  in  a  seated  or 
standing  posture.    Crossing  the  threshold,  we 

^ Fifth  dynasty:  about  3800  years  B.C.;  Xlth  dynasty:  about 
2500. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  3 


enter  a  spacious  court  surrounded  by  a  cloister 
of  colonnades  or  caryatids;  in  the  centre,  is  an 
altar  where  the  offerings  were  burned.  Walking 
up  a  gentle  incline,  we  come  to  what  is  known  as 
the  "hypostyle"  court,  where  many  rows  of 
enormous  columns  support  at  the  height  of 
sixty-three  to  sixty-six  feet  a  ceiling  of  ponder- 
ous flagstones.  At  New  Year's,  on  fete-days  of 
the  seasons,  and  on  days  set  apart  for  divine 
and  royal  worship,  the  crowd  of  worshippers 
had  access  to  this  part  of  the  building  where 
they  might  view  the  procession  of  the  gods 
or  of  the  king.  Before  issuing  into  the  court, 
ablaze  with  sunshine  and  flooded  with  light,  it 
was  pleasant  to  linger  in  the  freshness  and 
semi-obscurity  of  these  high  covered  halls. 
But  beyond  this  point  no  living  being  might 
venture  to  go,  unless  he  were  of  divine  race,  either 
in  his  own  right  or  by  initiation.  Only  the  grand 
priest  and  the  king  had  access  to  the  sanctu- 
ary, a  central  room,  low  and  massive,  with  no 
other  opening  than  the  door.  There  slumbered, 
behind  the  sealed  and  bolted  panels,  in  complete 
darkness,  the  statue  of  the  god,  placed  in  an  ark 
or  granite  naos,  waiting  for  the  sacrificer  who 
was  to  awaken  him  by  the  force  of  secret  rites. 
No  other  temples  dating  from  the  new  kingdom 


4  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


are  so  well  preserved  in  their  main  outlines;  but 
parts  of  each  of  them  are  in  good  condition. 
Gournah,  one  of  the  marvels  of  Egyptian  art,  has 
preserved  from  the  ravages  of  time  only  a  dis- 
mantled hypostyle  and  a  few  cult-chambers. 
Abydos,  built  at  the  same  time,  has  retained  a 
hypostyle  and  seven  shrines,  in  white  limestone, 
of  very  fine  texture,  on  which  have  been  carved 
reliefs  of  delicate  workmanship.  In  the  Rame- 
seum,  unique  on  account  of  its  impressive  pro- 
portions and  the  shining  splendour  of  its  red 
sandstone,  only  half  of  the  pylons  remain,  together 
with  fragments  of  porticoes  and  a  magnificent 
hypostyle  whose  ceiling  is  intact.  At  Luxor, 
one  of  the  obelisks  has  been  removed,  ^  the  colossal 
statues  are  shattered.  Of  its  two  courts,  the  first, 
characterised  by  beautiful  porticoes  with  cary- 
atids, is  buried  in  rubbish,  on  top  of  which  a  mosque 
is  as  it  were  enthroned.  The  second  court,  with 
its  graceful  colonnades  set  up  by  Thothmes  III, 
is  partly  destroyed.  A  few  structures,  diminutive 
models  of  temples  practically  complete,  are  also 
seen  at  Karnak;  they  belong  to  Khonsu  and 
Ramses  III.    In  the  great  temple  of  Amon,  how- 

^  It  is  the  obelisk  standing  on  Place  de  la  Concorde  in  Paris. 
The  other  one,  also  given  to  France  by  the  Khedive,  was  never 
removed. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  5 


ever,  after  passing  the  court  where  out  of  ten 
gigantic  columns  only  one  raises  aloft  its  lotus 
flower,  we  see  nothing  but  the  huge  roofless  hypo- 
style,  and,  all  around,  crumbling  pylons,  over- 
turned walls,  sunken  ceilings  covering  destroyed 
shrines,  an  indescribable  chaos,  dominated  by 

L'elan  demesure  des  aiguilles  de  pierre. 
("The  aspiring  height  of  the  stone  needles.")^ 

Less  damaged  by  weather  and  better  sheltered 
from  the  injuries  of  man  are  the  temples  of  that 
period  which  were  sunk  in  the  rock:  at  Deir-el- 
Bahri  the  underground  structure  is  intact,  as 
is  also  the  large  specs  of  Abu  Simbel,  flooded  to 
its  depths  by  the  rising  sun,  whose  entrance  is 
guarded  by  four  colossi  chiselled  from  the  rock. 

There  are,  however,  in  Egypt  some  temples 
that  are  practically  intact:  they  are  those  recon- 
structed by  the  Ptolemies  and  Caesars  at  Edfu, 
Philae,  and  Denderah.  Erected  about  a  thousand 
years  later  than  the  temples  above  mentioned, 
and  maintained  with  the  greatest  care  down  to  the 
fourth  century  of  our  era,  they  have  more  stoutly 
withstood  the  encroachments  of  destruction. 
Compared  with  earlier  temples,  they  present  a 
more  distinct  and  uniform  plan;  perhaps  the 

^  J.  M.  de  H^r^dia. 


6  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


harmonious  proportions  of  Greek  art  influenced 
the  last  Egyptian  architects.  Yet  it  was  scarcely 
for  the  best.  The  largest  of  the  Ptolemaic 
structures  no  longer  give  that  impression  of  heroic 
grandeur  which  is  striking  in  the  case  of  Karnak 
and  of  the  Rameseum;  their  outlines  are  stiff 
and  hard;  their  dimensions  appear  meagre  even 
when  they  are  vast;  the  decoration  is  overdone 
rather  than  sumptuous;  the  reliefs  and  inscrip- 
tions show  a  compromise  between  the  realistic 
modelling  of  Greek  art  and  the  hieratic  generalisa- 
tion of  the  old  national  style,  and  as  a  result  are 
seen  those  sad  and  monotonous  faces  that  make 
a  visit  to  Esneh  and  to  Denderah  painful.  Put- 
ting aside  these  criticisms,  it  is  but  just  to  praise 
the  beautiful  arrangement  in  the  temple  of  Edfu, 
the  graceful  floral  columns  of  Philae  with  their 
diversified  capitals,  finely  wrought,  and  of  ex- 
quisite colouring  that  is  as  yet  undimmed;  the 
hypostyle  of  Denderah,  where  at  the  top  of  each 
column,  lost  in  the  dimness  of  the  massive  ceiling, 
smiles  the  puzzling  face  of  a  goddess  with  long 
eyes,  cow-ears,  and  a  head-dress  in  the  form  of  a 
sistrum.  The  real  interest  of  these  monuments 
is  vested,  however,  in  their  practically  perfect 
state  of  preservation.  As  some  one  has  said, 
the  priests  of  Horus,  could  they  return  to  Edfu, 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  7 


would  require  only  a  few  hours  to  make  it  ready 
for  worship.  There  are  lacking  only  the  sacred 
pieces  of  furniture,  the  statues  of  the  gods,  and  the 
offerings;  all  the  other  things  are  there:  the  texts 
and  the  pictures  composing  the  ritual,  the  calendar 
of  the  festivals,  the  catalogue  of  the  holy  books. 

In  brief,  hardly  anything  remains  of  the  temples 
preceding  the  XVIIIth  dynasty  except  a  few 
ruins  and  substructures,  valuable  only  to  the 
archaeologists;  the  monuments  of  the  following 
period  have  come  down  to  us  partly  destroyed; 
only  the  temples  last  constructed  seem  still  to 
defy  the  centuries. 

It  is  necessary  to  point  out  these  distinctions, 
because  there  is  a  widespread  impression,  which 
has  taken  hold  even  of  those  who  have  visited 
Egypt,  that  the  Pharaonic  achievements  in  their 
entirety  are  safe  from  the  rude  buffe tings  of  time. 
So  old  are  these  ruins,  life  has  been  extinct  in 
them  for  so  many  years,  that  destruction  itself 
seems  to  have  lost  all  power;  like  mummies,  the 
dismembered  bodies  of  the  temples  seem  to  lie 
on  the  ground,  in  a  state  of  miraculous  and  ever- 
lasting preservation.  But  this  is  a  very  false 
impression.  Life  has  not  departed  from  these 
desiccated  stones;  a  slow  process  of  destruction 
and  transformation  is  still  going  on  in  them,  as  has 


8 


Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


been  made  manifest  in  recent  times  by  accidents, 
which  might  have  been  irremediable  but  for  the 
vigilance  of  the  Egyptian  Service  des  Antiquites. 

The  causes  of  destruction  are  either  accidental 
and  transitory,  or  fundamental  and  permanent. 
To  meet  these  exigencies,  the  Service  des  Anti- 
quites had  in  some  cases  to  take  steps  to  secure 
partial  conservation,  in  other  cases  to  bring  about 
complete  restoration. 

Among  the  comparatively  transient  causes  of 
destruction  should  be  mentioned,  in  the  first  place, 
the  utter  neglect  of  all  the  temples  for  at  least 
fifteen  hundred  years.  An  edict  issued  by  Theo- 
dosius  I,  about  the  end  of  the  fourth  century, 
prohibited  every  other  worship  except  the  Christ- 
ian; the  Pharaonic  temples,  several  of  which 
were  already  falling  to  ruin,  were  given  up  to  the 
injuries  of  time  and  of  men.  They  had  received 
up  to  that  time  the  most  careful  attention  and  had 
been  kept  in  good  repair.  We  know  indeed,  from 
the  archives  preserved  in  the  temples,  that  these 
newer  shrines,  built  in  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies, 
had  in  their  primitive  form  existed  since  the 
Memphite  or  Thinite  Pharaohs,  i.e.,  about  4000 
years  earlier.  It  is  easy  to  understand  that  they 
had  required  continual  restoration. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  9 


To  take  an  instance,  Thothmes  III,  of  the 
XVIIIth  dynasty,  rebuilt  the  temple  at  Den- 
derah  in  accordance  with  the  ancient  plan,  dating 
from  King  Cheops,  which  had  already  been  made 
use  of  by  Pepi  I  of  the  Vlth  dynasty.^  Long 
before  the  birth  of  the  builder  of  the  great  pyra- 
mid, if  one  can  place  belief  in  a  tradition  which 
Chabas  found  recorded  in  a  papyrus  in  Berlin, 
the  temple  of  Denderah  was  standing,  dating 
back  to  the  reign  of  King  Ousaphais  of  the  1st 
dynasty.  2  This  testimony  has  been  partially  con- 
firmed by  the  discovery,  in  one  of  the  secret 
crypts  of  the  temple,  of  a  bas-relief  representing  a 
statue  of  King  Pepi  I  worshipped  as  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  shrine/  Bearing  in  mind  that  the 
present  temple  was  reconstructed  in  the  first 
century  B.C.,  we  may  imagine  how  much  effort 
was  expended  in  this  one  locality  during  four  or 
five  thousand  years,  in  order  to  preserve  the  shrine. 

It  is  therefore  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
throughout  the  history  of  Egypt  it  was  a  constant 
endeavour  of  the  Pharaohs  to  maintain  the  temples 
in  good  condition,  and  that  is  why  such  munificent 
sums  were  expended  in  endowing  and  supporting 

^  Dumichen,  Bauurkunde,  PI.  XVI. 
Chabas,  "Sur  I'antiquite  de  Denderah"  {Zeitschrift  fiir 
(Bgypiische  Sprache,  1865,  p.  92). 
3Mariette,  Denderah,  iii,  PI.  71-72. 


lo  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


the  sacerdotal  colleges  that  were  entrusted  with 
the  maintenance  of  the  sacred  buildings.  At 
times  the  usual  income  ran  short ;  after  the  great 
invasions — that  of  the  Hyksos,  Assyrians,  Per- 
sians, etc. — which  left  the  temples  plundered  or 
utterly  neglected,  thorough  repairing  or  even 
rebuilding  was  found  necessary.  The  king  had  to 
incur  the  expense,  whether  he  was  a  Pharaoh, 
a  Ptolemy,  or  a  Csesar;  as  a  son  of  the  gods  it 
devolved  upon  him  to  preserve  the  ancestral 
heritage,  the  home  of  his  fathers.  Here  is  an 
example,  among  a  hundred,  of  the  laudatory 
accounts  which,  after  some  restoration  of  the 
kind,  were  engraved  on  a  stela  put  in  a  conspicuous 
place  in  the  temple.  It  concerns  Thothmes  III 
and  the  temple  of  Phtah  at  Karnak : 

My  Majesty  ordered  this  temple  of  Phtah  to  be 
built  at  Thebes.  Now,  as  my  Majesty  had  found 
this  temple — which  was  built  of  brick,  with  its  pillars 
and  doors  of  wood — toppling  into  ruin,  my  Majesty 
ordered  the  work  of  laying  out  the  temple  to  be  done 
over  again  (in  order  to  fix  the  limits)  and  directed 
that  the  temple  be  built  of  good,  solid  white  stone, 
and  its  enclosing  walls  of  solid,  durable  brick;  then, 
when  my  Majesty  had  the  doors  put  in,  doors  made 
of  new  acacia  from  the  land  of  the  Levant,  with 
hinges  of  copper  from  Asia,  when  the  temple  of  Phtah 
stood,  re-created,  in  the  name  of  my  Majesty  ...  I 
decorated  its  shrine  with  electrum  from  every  country, 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples   1 1 


and  with  sacred  vases  made  of  gold  and  of  silver,  and 
of  all  kinds  of  precious  stones,  and  with  fine,  white 
linen.  When  thereupon,  my  Majesty  installed  the 
god  in  his  place,  I  had  his  temple  filled  with  every 
good  thing,  oxen,  geese,  incense,  wine,  every  provision, 
every  annual  fruit  of  the  earth.  .  .  . 

And  the  usual  conclusion — whatever  the  real 
importance  of  the  restoration — is  not  missing: 
Never  had  anything  like  this  been  done  for  the 
god,  never,  before  the  time  of  my  Majesty."^ 

If  the  temples,  after  the  disappearance  of  Pha- 
raohs and  priests,  had  only  been  left  to  themselves, 
they  might  have  held  out  victoriously  for  centu- 
ries on  account  of  the  solidity  of  their  material  and 
the  innocuousness  of  the  climate;  but  they  were 
not  left  undisturbed  by  men.  After  the  pagan 
priesthood  came  the  Christian  monks :  with  a  piety 
that  was  by  no  means  free  from  barbarism  they 
hunted  out  the  false  gods  in  their  retreats,  shatter- 
ing the  statues,  defacing  the  reliefs,  hammering  out 
the  inscriptions.  At  Denderah,  the  smoke  of 
their  camp-fires  blackened  the  ceiling  of  the  halls ; 
at  Luxor,  they  converted  the  ante-chamber  of 
the  sanctuary  into  a  church ;  even  to  this  day,  the 
stucco,  with  which  they  covered  up  the  scenes  of 
the  Egyptian  ritual,  dishonours  the  walls  and 

'  Maspero:  Comptes  rendus  de  V  Academie  des  Inscriptions, 
1899. 


12  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


conceals  the  reliefs  of  Amenophis  III.  Else- 
where, they  have  copied,  in  red  ink,  passages 
from  the  Fathers,  decrees  of  the  councils,  and 
entire  sermons  in  Coptic  language. 

Later,  when  Egypt  changed  master  and  religion, 
and  Islam,  represented  successively  by  the  Arabs 
and  the  Turks,  was  a  dominating  force,  the  monu- 
ments fared  no  better.  Generations  of  iconoclasts 
devoted  themselves  to  the  destruction  of  the 
human  face  wherever  it  appeared  in  statue  or 
relief,  thus  completing  the  execrable  work  of  the 
Christians;  it  was  then  that  the  Sphinx  was 
mutilated,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  was 
admired  by  learned  men,  such  as  Abdellatif. 
Then,  in  the  Delta  especially,  the  temples  served 
as  quarries :  lime  was  obtained  from  the  blocks  of 
carved  limestone;  as  for  the  granite,  it  gave 
a  ready  supply  for  the  basins  of  fountains,  the 
thresholds  of  mosques,  and  the  walls  of  palaces* 
To  see  what  remains  of  the  old  monuments  of 
Memphis  and  of  Heliopolis,  you  need  only  wander 
about  the  streets  in  Cairo,  and  notice,  as  M. 
Daressy^  has  done,  the  bits  of  stelae  and  the 
fragments  of  reliefs  imbedded  in  the  masonry  of 
the  mosques  and  palaces,  but  discernible  here  and 
there.    This  systematic  destruction  has  continued 

^  Annates  du  Service  des  Antiquites,  iv,  p.  loi;  cf.  ii,  p.  95. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  13 


until  our  day:  the  temple  of  Erment,  the  last 
relic  of  the  oldest  Theban  shrine,  still  existed 
at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century ;  but  it 
was  pulled  down,  and  the  material  used  for  build- 
ing purposes  by  sugar-refiners,  who  have  come 
into  the  land  along  with  European  civilisation. 
To-day  all  that  remains  of  it  is  formless  debris. 

In  some  cases,  it  was  simply  the  contact  with 
modern  life  that  brought  about  a  more  speedy 
destruction  of  the  temples.  In  many  cases,  they 
were  very  nearly  engulfed  by  the  private  houses 
surrounding  them,  just  as  in  the  Middle  Ages  our 
cathedrals  were  crowded  in  by  numerous  booths 
and  tenements.  In  the  course  of  centuries,  these 
houses,  built  of  brick  and  clay,  have  crumbled 
away  and  have  been  rebuilt  innumerable  times; 
but,  at  each  new  reconstruction,  no  trouble  was 
taken  to  rase  the  walls  to  the  ground.  *'The 
rubbish  was  made  level  and  the  new  house  erected 
from  a  foundation  a  few  feet  higher  than  that  of 
the  former  house;  this  is  why  each  town  is  now  on 
top  of  one  or  several  artificial  mounds,  dominating 
the  country  around.'*^  Most  of  the  temples  in 
Upper  Egypt  were  in  spite  of  their  high  walls 
thus  buried  alive  under  the  rubbish  of  dead  cities, 

^ '  G.  Maspero,  "  Premier  rapport  sur  les  fouilles  ex^cutees  en 
Egypte  de  1881  a  1885"  {Bihliothegue  Egyptologique,  t.  i,  p.  188). 


14  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


or  beneath  the  buildings  of  prosperous  villages. 
At  Denderah  the  piled-up  rubbish  rises  higher 
than  the  roof  of  the  small  temple;  in  order  to 
enter  the  hypostyle  of  the  great  temple,  a  trench 
had  to  be  dug  through  the  mountain  of  debris.^ 
The  ceiling  of  the  hypostyle  hall  of  Esneh,  sup- 
ported by  columns  seventy  feet  high,  is  now  actually 
on  a  level  with  the  ground  raised  by  the  continual 
elevation  of  the  rubbish;  the  former  level  of  the 
ground  is  reached  by  descending  a  very  steep 
stairway  leading  as  it  were,  to  a  cellar;  the  sanctu- 
ary, next  to  the  hypostyle,  is  still  buried  under 
modem  habitations.  In  order  to  clear  Edfu,  "to 
extricate  it  from  its  inhabitants,  and  set  it  free 
in  the  name  of  science, "  it  required  on  the  part  of 
Mariette  months  and  months  of  tiring  intermin- 
able work ;  and  it  will  be  seen  further  on  with  what 
task  M.  Maspero  was  confronted,  when  he  under- 
took the  clearing  of  the  temple  of  Luxor  where  the 
population  of  a  whole  village  had  established  itself 
for  centuries. 

Such  a  neighbourhood  is  extremely  detrimental 
to  the  ancient  edifices.  Not  only  do  the  latter 
serve  as  quarries  for  building  purposes,  but  the 
joists  of  the  houses  are  made  to  rest  on  the  reliefs ; 

^  Since  my  last  visit  to  Denderah  (1906),  the  fagade  of  the 
temple  has,  after  considerable  labour,  been  set  free. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  15 


the  fires  soil  the  sacred  ceilings  with  their  resinous 
smoke;  men  and  animals  defile  the  ground  with 
refuse  and  filth.  Gradually  the  heaps  of  ancient 
bricks  and  the  newer  ruins  on  which  are  piled 
up  dung-hills  and  waste  matter  are  transformed 
into  earth  containing  a  plentiful  admixture  of 
saltpetre  and  saltwort,  which  the  natives  call 
sehakh;  whenever  the  saltpetre  comes  in  contact 
with  the  ancient  masonry,  it  eats  away  the  lime- 
stone, destroys  the  grain  of  the  granite,  and 
crumbles  the  sandstone.  Thus,  even  the  indiffer- 
ent contact  of  man  is  fatal  to  the  abandoned 
temples. 

Egyptology  itself,  at  its  inception,  did  some 
damage  to  the  Egyptian  monuments.  The  gen- 
eral survey  of  the  ancient  monuments,  made  by 
the  scholars  in  the  train  of  Bonaparte,  was  com- 
pleted by  the  arch^ological  expeditions  of  Cham- 
pollion,  Lepsius,  and  Rosellini,  who  drew  up  the 
plan  of  every  important  necropolis  and  pointed 
out  the  most  significant  monuments.  After  them, 
there  was  a  rush  on  temples  and  tombs  by  ama- 
teurs and  dealers  in  antiquities,  who  trained  the 
natives,  Copts  and  Arabs,  in  plundering,  and 
gathered  together  those  heterogeneous  collections 
that  now  form  the  stock  of  our  great  museums  of 
Egyptology  in  Paris,  London,  Berlin,  Florence,  and 


i6  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Turin.  Even  Mariette,  the  founder  of  the  Egypt- 
ian Service  des  Antiquites,  began  by  pillaging 
Egypt,  sending  to  Paris  thousands  of  monuments 
found  in  the  Serapeum.  Yet  one  idea  kept  ob- 
truding itself  upon  him :  how  to  put  an  end  to  the 
shameful  robbery  which  threatened  to  lay  waste 
the  ancient  ground  of  Egypt.  ''Within  four 
years,"  he  wrote,  "I  have  seen  700  tombs  wiped 
out  on  the  plain  of  Abusir  and  Sakkarah."  On 
his  return  to  Cairo  in  1857,  with  the  mission  of 
exploring  Upper  Egypt  and  all  its  ancient  sites, 
in  order  to  draw  up  an  itinerary  for  Prince 
Napoleon,  Mariette  succeeded  in  obtaining  from 
the  Khedive,  Said  Pasha,  the  following  instructions : 
"You  will  see  to  the  safety  of  the  monuments; 
you  will  say  to  the  moudirs  (governors)  of  all  my 
provinces  that  I  forbid  them  to  touch  one  ancient 
stone;  you  will  send  to  prison  any  fellah  who  is 
caught  putting  his  foot  inside  a  temple."  Prince 
Napoleon  gave  up  his  visit  to  Egypt,  but — what 
was  more  important — Mariette  stayed,  and  he 
was  appointed,  on  June  i,  1858,  Director  of  the 
archaeological  survey  in  Egypt.  In  the  be- 
ginning, this  Service  des  Antiquites  had  no  fixed 
income,  nor  any  regular  staff;  Mariette  had  the 
right  to  enlist  the  services  of  the  peasants  in 
digging  and  in  excavating  and  he  demanded  credit 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  17 


when  the  circumstances  required.  During  the 
first  ten  years  he  could  not  do  much  in  the  way 
of  preserving  the  old  monuments. 

To  show  the  necessity  of  a  supervising  adminis- 
tration, Mariette  wanted  to  organise  a  museum  in 
Cairo ;  he  therefore  pillaged,  in  a  methodical  man- 
ner, the  sites  of  Gizeh,  Sakkarah,  Abydos,  Tanis, 
and  Sais,  in  order  "to  get  relics,  more  and  more 
relics."  The  museum  once  organised  and  filled 
with  remarkable  works  of  art,  Mariette  could 
devote  himself  to  more  scholarly  work.  Urged  by 
the  scholars  of  Europe  to  excavate  in  a  more  sys- 
tematic manner  and  to  publish  detailed  informa- 
tion regarding  the  monuments  already  brought 
to  light,  Mariette  undertook  excavations  in 
several  districts,  in  Edfu,  Denderah,  Abydos,  no 
longer  with  the  idea  of  despoiling  the  temples 
for  the  benefit  of  the  museum,  but  of  restoring 
each  site  to  its  ancient  condition,  for  the  benefit 
of  science.  Death  overtook  him,  in  1881,  when 
he  had  hardly  begun  the  second  part  of  his  task, 
and  before  he  was  able  to  exercise  his  powers 
to  the  full.  At  least  he  had  rendered  modern 
Egypt  an  immense  service  by  interesting  her  in 
her  marvellous  old  treasures.^     "Had  it  not 

^  G.  Maspero,  Biographic  de  Mariette  (in  vol.  viii  of  Biblio' 
theque  Egyptologigue). 
a 


1 8  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


been  for  him,  Egypt  would  have  continued  for  a 
long  time  destroying  her  monuments  and  selling 
broken  pieces  of  them  abroad,  without  keeping 
anything  for  herself:  he  prevailed  upon  her  to 
keep  them." 

From  1881  to  1886,  M.  Maspero,  who  succeeded 
Mariette,  gave  to  the  direction  of  the  Service  des 
Antiquites  a  real  scientific  aim,  and  his  success 
was  facilitated  by  the  thorough  reorganisation 
of  the  state,  which  was  the  result  of  the  English 
occupation  of  Egypt.  M.  Maspero  had  the  courage 
to  declare  that  the  work  of  excavation  ought  to 
be  subordinated  to  more  important  tasks  con- 
fronting the  Service:  its  main  object  should  be 
to  free  the  base  of  the  monuments,  to  maintain 
them  in  good  condition,  and  to  make  them  known ; 
the  time  had  come  when  it  was  necessary  to  sub- 
stitute for  superficial  surveying  thorough  explora- 
tion and  the  publication  in  detail  of  information 
about  the  work  accomplished.  From  that  day  on 
there  has  been  an  organised  attempt  to  preserve 
the  Egyptian  antiquities. 

The  clearing  of  the  temples  was  already  well 
on  the  way  at  such  places  at  Edfu,  Denderah,  and 
Abydos;  M.  Maspero  therefore  gave  his  undivided 
attention  to  one  of  the  best  preserved  places, 
Luxor.    His  task  was  not  an  easy  one :  the  temple 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  19 


which  the  scholars  of  Bonaparte's  expedition  and 
later  ChampolHon  and  Lepsius  had  seen  practi- 
cally free  from  encroaching  houses,  "had  been 
covered  with  habitations  during  the  last  thirty 
years.  Towards  the  north,  the  two  towers,  on 
each  side  of  the  entrance  gate,  the  first  court,  and 
the  porticoes  surrounding  it,  were  more  than  half 
concealed  under  a  mass  of  mud  and  straw  houses, 
that  leaned  against  the  columns,  clung  to  the  walls, 
and  crushed  the  architraves  with  the  weight  of 
their  bricks.  The  two  minarets  of  the  mosque  of 
Abu'l  Haggag  rose  as  best  they  could  above  this 
irregular  dirty  mass.  Under  the  great  colonnade 
running  from  the  northern  court  to  the  sanctuary 
in  the  south,  there  were  two  houses,  that  of  the 
cadi  of  Esneh  and  that  of  a  consul.  The  western 
part  of  the  front,  facing  the  river,  was  hidden  by 
various  buildings,  a  police  station,  a  prison,  a  post- 
office,  government-magazines,  and  a  French  mis- 
sion house.  ^  Behind  the  huts  there  was  a  waste 
plain,  disfigured  by  groups  of  three  or  four  hovels, 
and  strewn  with  rubbish ;  commons  for  sheep  and 
goats  occupied  the  place  between  the  capitals 
of  the  columns,  pigeon-houses  appeared  trium- 

^  This  house  accommodated  the  expedition  sent  to  Egypt  by 
the  French  Government,  1836,  in  order  to  remove  the  obeUsk, 
seen  standing  to-day  on  the  Place  de  la  Concorde. 


20  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


phantly  on  the  remains  of  the  terrace  of  the 
temple.  .  /'^ 

Tiresome  formalities  had  to  be  entered  into 
and  the  payment  of  large  sums  for  damages  was 
necessarily  entailed  in  turning  out  the  families 
living  in  the  monument; 2  but  M.  Maspero  over- 
came all  difhculties  and  knew  how  to  interest  the 
European  press  in  his  undertaking :  a  subscription 
raised  by  the  Journal  des  Debats  and  by  the 
Times  yielded  19,000  francs.  The  work,  once 
begun,  was  made  easy  by  the  co-operation  of  the 
natives,  eager  to  carry  away  the  sebakh  with 
which  they  make  an  excellent  manure;  after 
several  interruptions  the  temple  was  finally 
cleared,  about  the  year  1893.  The  mosque  of 
Abu'l  Haggag,  however,  could  not  be  touched,  the 
law  forbidding  it ;  so  it  was  left  there,  and  it  still 
encumbers  the  north-east  part  of  the  first  court. 

M.  Maspero  had  been  recalled  to  France  in 
1887  before  the  consummation  of  the  work; 
but  though  his  successors,  Messrs.  Grebaut 
( 1 887-1 892),  de  Morgan  (i  892-1 897),  and  Loret 
( 1 897-1 899)  devoted  their  energy  to  the  clearing 

^  G.  Maspero,  Premier  rapport  sur  les  jouilles  executees  en 
Egypte  de  1881  a  1885. 

'  Similar  negotiations  are  carried  on  now,  in  order  to  turn  out 
the  natives  who  live  in  the  court  and  the  sanctuary  of  the  temple 
of  Esneh. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  21 


of  other  places,  it  became  an  established  principle 
to  work  exhaustively  over  one  particular  site. 
M.  Daressy,  who  had  already  done  much  for  the 
clearing  of  Luxor,  spent  several  seasons  in  stripping 
off  the  Coptic  houses  from  the  splendid  buildings 
of  Medinet  Habu:  since  1897,  every  part  of  the 
temple  is  approachable.^ 

The  clearing  of  Luxor  and  Medinet  Habu  could 
not  be  carried  out  unless  a  great  deal  of  repairing 
was  done;  here  and  there  it  was  necessary  to 
reconstruct  a  crumbling  wall,  to  put  together  the 
scattered  pieces  of  some  bas-relief,  to  strengthen 
a  few  columns,  and,  in  order  that  they  might  not 
mar  the  effect,  to  hide  behind  architraves  or 
lintels  the  iron  bars  introduced,  according  to 
M.  Legrain's  method,  to  support  the  stones  that 
were  ready  to  fall.  These  were  the  kind  of  tasks 
that  confronted  the  Service  des  Antiquites,  tasks 
which  nevertheless,  in  the  case  of  the  majority 
of  temples  in  Upper  and  Lower  Egypt,  were 
accomplished  with  forethought  and  care. 

Recently  it  has  been  necessary  to  apply  preven- 
tive measures  to  the  whole  group  of  temples  at 
Philas;  for,  since  1902,  they  have  been  submerged 

^  M.  Daressy  has  published  excellent  Notes  on  the  temples 
of  Luxor  and  Medinet  Habu  in  the  Reports  of  the  Service  des 
Antiquity. 


22  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


during  six  months  of  the  year  by  the  waters 
dammed  at  Assouan.  Before  allowing  the  old 
sandstone,  dried  up  for  so  many  centuries,  to  bear 
the  test  of  such  an  inundation,  M.  Barsanti,  a  most 
experienced  superintendent  in  the  Service  des 
Antiquites,  was  entrusted  by  M.  Maspero  with  the 
task  of  thoroughly  cleaning  the  temples,  of  ridding 
them  of  every  particle  of  saltpetre,  of  filling  up 
all  crevices,  and  of  joining  by  invisible  ligatures 
all  loose  stones.  After  many  other  precautions 
had  been  taken,  the  island  of  Philae  was  inun- 
dated ;  and  the  water  forcing  its  way  to  the  interior 
of  the  edifice,  whence  it  had  been  banished 
since  prehistoric  times,  rushed  into  the  court, 
flooded  the  pavement  of  the  hypostyle  and  the 
sanctuary,  and  rose  to  the  height  of  the  capitals  on 
the  propyl^a  of  the  great  temple.  The  result  of 
so  ruthless  a  treatment  was  awaited  with  anxiety : 
as  yet  nothing  has  happened,  no  block  has  slipped, 
and  the  cement  jointures,  with  which  M.  Barsanti 
had  protected  the  walls,  are  still  intact.  It  is 
hoped  that  the  temple  will  be  able  to  survive 
these  inundations  a  long  time,  and  optimists  even 
declare  that  this  annual  cleansing  is  salutary. 

Several  other  temples,  from  Philae  down  to 
Ouadi  Haifa,  are  inundated  by  the  Nile.  M. 
Maspero  estimates  that  600,000  francs  will  have 


Karnak. 


1.    The  Shattered  Pylons. 


II.    Western  Face  of  the  Hypostyle  Hall  in  1904. 
Plate  11. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  23 


to  be  expended  in  order  to  put  them  temporarily 
in  condition  to  withstand  this  test.  In  truth,  it 
is  not  known  but  that  the  periodic  submersion 
to  which  they  are  subjected  may  prove  fatal  to 
them  in  the  long  run;  but  for  the  time  being, 
Phila5  is  safe  from  all  immediate  danger.  ^ 

The  experience  at  Philae  has  demonstrated  the 
efficacy  of  the  preventive  measures  adopted  by 
the  Service  des  Antiquites;  as  the  Department 
kept  extending  its  activity  to  embrace  new  areas, 
it  had  to  take  precautions  to  protect  each  new 
site,  in  order  that  its  triumphs  might  be  enduring. 
The  very  primitive  organisation  started  by  Mari- 
ette,  was  bound  to  develop  into  a  highly  efficient 
public  service,  into  a  kind  of  ''Ancient  Egypt 
Office."  The  heart  and  soul  of  this  organism 
are  still  in  the  Museum  of  Cairo  (formerly  at 
Boulak,  later  at  Gizeh) ;  thither  are  transported 
the  rare  or  fragile  pieces,  which  it  would  be  very 
risky  to  leave  on  the  site  where  they  were  found. 
For  instance,  when  recently  M.  Naville  found 
intact  a  chapel  of  the  goddess  Hathor  at  Deir-el- 
Bahri,  an  unguarded  place  in  the  mountains,  it 
did  not  seem  advisable  to  leave  the  divine  cow 
in  the  shrine  where  she  was  venerated.    The  idol 

^  G.  Maspero,  Rapport  pour  1905.  Cf.  Annales  du  Service  des 
Antiquites,  t.  iv,  v,  vii, 


24  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


was  accordingly  put  in  a  case  and  the  shrine 
taken  apart;  both  were  then  sent  to  Cairo,  the 
shrine  being  put  together  again  at  the  Museum 
and  the  cow  replaced  in  it. ' 

Yet,  the  practice  of  leaving  the  monuments  in 
place,  whenever  this  is  possible,  seems  to  be 
prevailing  now.  M.  Legrain  did  not  despoil  the 
temple  of  Phtah  of  its  statues,  and  the  tomb  of 
Amen6phis  II  was  opened  to  the  public,  still 
adorned  with  the  funeral  furnishings  which  M. 
Loret  discovered  there.  This  policy  will  doubt- 
less be  pursued  in  the  future :  it  is  impracticable  to 
heap  up  at  Cairo  all  the  countless  statues  and 
interesting  documents  which  Egypt  still  holds 
concealed;  these  monuments  will  be  far  more 
impressive  if  left  in  their  place,  but  it  will  be 
necessary  to  take  rigorous  precautionary  measures 
to  guarantee  their  safety,  and  means  of  com- 
munication will  have  to  be  opened  up  to  make 
all  of  the  sites  easy  of  access. 

The  Service  has,  therefore,  purposely  begun 
to  decentralise:  superintendents  have  been  ap- 
pointed to  take  charge  of  the  three  great  regions: 
the  Said,  the  Fayum,  and  the  Delta. ^  M.  Legrain 
and  M.  Quibell  have  the  supervision  of  two 

^  Cf.  Maspero,  Causeries  d'Egypte,  p.  319. 

?  ynder  the  direction  of  Messrs.  Weigall,  Lef^bure  and  Edgar. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  25 


independent  districts:  Karnak  and  Sakkarah.^ 
Under  their  direction,  hundreds  of  guardians 
{ghaffirs),  selected  in  preference  to  other  natives 
on  account  of  their  intelHgence,  watch  the  tourists 
and  dealers  in  antiquities,  and  every  evening  lock 
up  the  tombs  and  temples.  It  may  be  imagined 
how  large  are  the  expenditures  necessitated 
by  the  continual  increase  in  the  number  of  em- 
ployees,^ and  how  great  the  disbursements  for 
enclosing  and  for  restoring  the  monuments,  an 
ever  growing  item.  Besides  its  regular  budget, 
the  Service  often  had  to  have  recourse  to  the 
treasury,  and  since  1887  it  has  levied  a  tax  of 
thirty  francs^  a  person  on  the  tourists  visiting 
the  monuments;  besides,  independent  excavations 
by  individuals  or  learned  societies  cannot  be  under- 
taken except  upon  application  to  the  Service  and 
upon  agreement  to  share  with  it  the  treasures 
discovered.  In  a  word,  all  Egypt  is  to-day  a 
museum  carefully  guarded.  Although  the  theft  of 
antiquities  and  clandestine  excavations  are  still 
frequent  occurrences,  the  systematic  pillage,  which 

^  The  work-yard  at  Karnak  has  an  annual  allowance  of  50,000 
francs,  that  of  Sakkarah,  25,000,  for  the  work  of  excavation  and 
of  restoration. 

2  The  Service  employed  in  1905,  250  permanent  and  200  tem- 
porary ghaffirs. 

3  The  tax  produced  nearly  150,000  francs  in  1905, 


26  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Mariette  so  deplored,  is  no  longer  possible.  Local 
justice  has  taught  robbers  that  every  crime  com- 
mitted against  Ancient  Egypt  is  paid  for,  in  money, 
in  blows  of  the  stick,  or  in  years  of  imprisonment, 
the  punishment  for  these  deplorable  occurrences 
being  just  as  severe  as  that  meted  out  for  offences 
against  modem  society. 

The  work  of  preservation,  however,  will  not  be 
complete  until  generations  of  scholars  have  through 
publications  of  a  sound  scientific  character  turned 
to  account  the  methodical  clearing  and  repairing 
of  the  monuments,  a  difficult  task  for  which  we 
are  indebted  to  the  Service.  It  is  a  great  handi- 
cap that  Egyptologists  have  at  their  disposal  as 
yet  only  a  very  incomplete  collection  of  texts 
and  plates  from  which  dearth  of  material  result 
mistakes,  erroneous  ideas,  and  ignorance.  Owing 
to  the  efforts  of  the  Service  several  temples  are 
now  accessible  in  all  their  parts,  but  competent 
scholars  should  be  commissioned  to  interpret 
them,  so  that  the  information  about  the  past 
which  they  convey  may  be  understood.  These 
interpreters  will  have  to  be  patient  and  scrupulous 
copyists,  will  have  to  have  a  knowledge  as  vast  as 
possible,  and  will  have  to  be  in  possession  of  a 
tested  method, — a  mental  equipment  possessed 
by  but  few  and  not  more  characteristic  of  Egypto- 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  27 


legists  than  of  the  representatives  of  other  sciences. 
The  Archasological  Institute,  maintained  by  France 
in  Cairo,  ^  has  made  praiseworthy  efforts — some- 
times successfully — towards  publishing  informa- 
tion about  the  monuments  cleared  by  the  Service, 
but  its  resources  are  by  no  means  sufficient  for  the 
task.  The  English  society,  Egypt  Exploration 
Fund,  has  done  much  in  that  direction;  it  en- 
trusted the  clearing  of  the  temple  of  Deir-el-Bahri 
and  the  pubHcation  of  information  about  it  to 
M.  Naville,  who  does  it  in  a  masterly  way.  ^  For 
the  drawing  up  of  its  general  catalogue,  the 
Museum  of  Cairo  requested  the  assistance  of  all 
nationalities;^  it  is  desirable  now  that  in  like 
manner  the  "Greater  Museum"  that  'Egypt  has 
become  should  have  its  own  descriptive  catalogue,  ^ 
to  which  in  order  that  the  great  effort  of  the  Ser- 

^  Under  the  direction  successively  of  Messrs.  Maspero,  Lef6- 
bure,  Bouriant,  and  Chassinat. 

2  We  are  glad  to  point  out  here  the  work  done  by  the  Americans 
in  Egypt;  excavations  of  Dr.  Reisner  on  the  site  of  Gizeh,  on 
behalf  of  the  University  of  California;  private  excavations  by 
Theodore  M.  Davis,  in  the  Valley  of  the  Kings  at  Thebes; 
exploration  of  the  Egyptian  Sudan  by  J.  H.  Breasted,  for  the 
University  of  Chicago;  arch  geological  missions  of  M.  Lythgoe 
for  the  Metropolitan  Museum  in  New  York. 

3  Under  the  direction  of  M.  Maspero,  assisted  throughout  by 
M.  Pierre  Lacau. 

4  This  Catalogue  of  the  monuments  of  all  Egypt  was  begun 
by  M.  de  Morgan,  then  abandoned  for  several  years  and  taken 
up  again  by  M.  Maspero;  it  now  comprises  the  monuments 


28  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


vice  may  bear  fruit  rapidly,  all  scholars  should 
contribute. 

The  preservation  of  monuments  is  only  part — 
and  the  least  difificult  at  that — of  the  task  as- 
sumed to-day  by  the  Service  des  Antiquites.  The 
care  lavished  upon  the  temples  by  Mariette  and 
Maspero  has  not  always  saved  the  tottering  monu- 
ments which  have  been  going  to  ruin  for  two 
thousand  years.  In  consequence  of  sudden  cata- 
strophes other  methods  of  treatment  had  to  be 
invented;  and  recently  a  tremendous  problem 
had  to  be  solved :  how  to  restore  certain  edifices 
entirely. 

At  Karnak  an  accident  happened  to  a  part  of  the 
temple  that  seemed  particularly  capable  of  sur- 
viving indefinitely,  thus  thwarting  the  hope  that 
had  been  entertained  regarding  it.  The  large 
hypostyle  hall,  the  134  columns  of  which,  ranging 
in  height  from  66  feet  along  the  centre  to  40  along 
the  sides,  were  erected  by  Seti  I,  and  Ramses  II, 
had  for  a  long  time  been  without  a  ceiling,  a  condi- 
tion of  things  which  endangered  its  stability. 
The  columns,  being  no  longer  wedged  in  by  the 

situated  between  Assouan  and  Kom-Qmbo,  inclusively.  This 
publication  is  very  unsatisfactory,  but  the  Service  des  Antiquites 
is  preparing  a  series  of  monographs  dealing  with  the  principal 
monuments  and  reproducing  them  in  extenso.  Many  years  will 
be  necessary  to  carry  out  this  great  enterprise. 


4 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  29 

weight  of  the  enormous  stones,  nor  held  rigidly 
in  place,  had  begun  to  loosen ;  some  had  crumbled, 
others  gave  way  gradually  under  the  ponderous 
architraves.  One  of  these  roused  the  admiration 
of  visitors;  it  was  the  famous  leaning  column,' 
which  cut  diagonally  the  rectangular  opening 
formed  by  the  smaller  columns  of  the  next  row 
(Plate  I).  Imagine  a  pillar,  about  40  feet  high  and 
7  in  diameter,  inclined  obliquely  in  space,  and 
carrying  with  it  an  architrave,  10  feet  thick,  weigh- 
ing about  40  tons.  The  whole  kept  its  balance 
by  the  aid  of  the  disjointed  base  of  the  column 
and  the  exterior  angle  of  the  architrave :  the  latter 
had  lodged  against  a  neighbouring  column  and 
found  support  on  a  surface  a  few  inches  in  extent ; 
all  around  was  empty  space;  light  could  be  seen 
even  between  the  architrave  and  the  capital,  which 
it  touched  at  only  two  points.  How  could  the  sup- 
porting column  bear  the  weight  of  this  enormous 
mass,  when  it  struck  it  ponderously  with  its 
weight  of  nearly  200  tons ;  why  did  not  these  loose 
stones  slip  off,  and  how  had  they  maintained 
their  adhesiveness?  Such  miracles  of  balance 
and  resistance  helped  establish  a  strong  confi- 
dence in  the  solidity  of  these  Karnak  ruins 
(Plate  II,  2). 

*  It  was  demolished  in  the  course  of  the  restoration. 


30  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Now,  in  1899,  eleven  columns  of  the  hypostyle 
hall  crumbled  suddenly;  it  was  only  chance  that 
the  rest  of  the  columns  did  not,  hke  a  house  of 
cards,  also  collapse. 

It  was  the  third  of  October,  about  nine  o'clock  in 
the  morning;  a  guard,  making  his  circuit  of  the  sur- 
rounding walls,  heard  a  loud  noise  resembling  thunder. 
Immediately  he  ran  towards  the  temple,  arriving  in 
the  hypostyle  hall  just  in  time  to  see  two  columns 
thrust  against  the  pylon  of  Ramses.  Another  guard 
was  standing,  terrified,  at  the  foot  of  the  obelisk  of 
Thothmes  and  would  not  approach  until  the  noise 
had  ceased. 

Thus,  no  one  witnessed  the  beginning  of 
the  accident.  Monsieur  Legrain,  from  whom  I 
quote  these  words,  discovered  that  the  original 
cause  was  the  accidental  falling  of  one  column ;  the 
latter  overturned  the  column  in  front  of  it, 
dragging  down  the  architraves,  which  joined 
both  of  them  to  the  adjacent  columns  in  the  row. 
The  architraves  and  the  detached  segments  be- 
haved like  projectiles:  seven  columns  of  the  same 
row  fell,  each  pushing  the  other  down ;  but  in  the 
parallel  row,  only  three  columns  tumbled  as  a 
result  of  the  imparted  shock,  the  progress  of 
destruction  being  arrested  by  the  unexpected 
resistance  of  the  fourth  column.  All  this  hap- 
pened in  a  few  seconds,  and  there  lay  upon  the 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  31 


ground  a  chaotic  mass  of  enormous  segments, 
presenting  the  most  picturesque  but  distressing 
aspect.  Several  neighbouring  columns  were 
struck  on  the  surface  by  colossal  blocks,  weighing 
from  10  to  15  tons,  which  made  deep  incisions; 
at  the  end  of  the  file,  the  two  last  columns,  with 
all  their  segments  disjoined  but  still  superposed, 
slanted  on  the  sloping  surface  of  the  pylon,  which 
fraternally  upheld  them  in  their  fall  (PL  II,  i, 
and  III,  i). 

As  a  result  of  this  accident  at  Karnak,  Egypto- 
logists were  confronted  with  the  perplexing  ques- 
tion: should  an  ancient  monument  that  falls  in 
ruins  be  reconstructed?  An  immediate  decision 
was  necessary ;  either  the  hypostyle  hall  must  be 
abandoned  to  its  fate,  or  an  inquiry  made  about 
the  causes  of  destruction  and  a  remedy  applied 
without  delay. 

The  Director  of  the  Service,  M.  Maspero,  had 
to  assume  the  responsibility  of  so  grave  a  decision. 
Owing  to  his  thorough  acquaintance  with  the 
monuments  of  Egypt,  formed  in  the  course  of  his 
previous  management  of  the  Service,  owing  also  to 
his  ability  to  meet  all  scientific  or  material  dif- 
ficulties with  knowledge  supplemented  by  a  vast 
experience,  the  question  was  soon  answered:  an 
edifice  should  not  be  allowed  to  tumble,  if  the  power 


32  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


of  resistance  inherent  in  it  has  not  yet  exhausted  it- 
self, and  this  may  be  the  case  even  though  pieces 
of  it  have  become  disjoined  as  a  result  of  the 
changing  conditions  affecting  it  in  the  course  of 
centuries.  A  fortnight  after  the  catastrophe  in 
Karnak,  a  delegation  of  specialists  arrived  there, 
formed  an  opinion  on  the  spot,  and  drew  up  on 
October  28th  a  statement  of  the  work  to  be  done, 
and  an  estimate  of  the  probable  expenses.  On 
December  iith,M.  Legrain  opened  his  work-yard, 
and,  supplied  with  instructions  by  M.  Maspero, 
undertook  one  of  the  most  important  and  peril- 
ous works  ever  conceived  or  executed  by  an 
archaeologist. 

The  weak  spot  in  the  gigantic  building  raised 
by  the  Pharaohs  is,  as  a  rule,  their  foundations. 
Unless  they  were  building  on  the  rocky  ground  in 
the  desert,  the  architects  were  confronted  by  the 
difficulty  that  wherever  they  dug  deep,  in  the 
plain,  they  would  find  wet  and  soft  soil,  on  a  level 
with  the  infiltrations  of  the  Nile;  in  consequence 
they  had  to  be  satisfied  with  removing  the  earth  on 
the  surface  and  digging  foundations  in  virgin  soil. 
In  the  case  of  the  hypostyle  hall  in  Karnak,  the 
excavation  was  made  about  seven  feet  deep ;  there 
were  raised,  on  a  bed  of  alluvium  mixed  with  sand, 
little  piles  of  masonry,  composed  of  large,  uneven, 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  33 


rough  stones,  heaped  up  in  irregular  layers,  a 
large  part  of  which  were  taken  from  an  edifice, 
built  by  the  heretic  king,  Amenophis  IV,  but 
piously  demolished  by  his  orthodox  successors. 
Sometimes,  in  place  of  the  rough  stones,  there  is  a 
filling  of  earth,  bits  of  stones,  and  potsherds. 
Notice  that  on  these  piles  "which  remind  us  of 
lacustrine  heaps  rather  than  of  real  foundations" 
were  placed  columns  weighing  in  their  totality 
about  226  tons.  Often  these  piles  are  smaller  in 
diameter  than  the  base  of  the  columns,  a  condition 
essentially  unfavourable  to  the  stability  of  the 
structure.  Besides,  the  only  connecting  medium 
between  the  piles  supporting  the  columns  is  an 
embankment  of  pebbles  and  earth,  covered  over 
with  a  thin  layer  of  flagstones.  This  short- 
coming was  certainly  owing  to  ignorance,  negli- 
gence, or  fraud  on  the  part  of  the  architects  of  the 
hypos tyle  hall. 

These  foundations,  already  insecure,  were 
threatened  by  two  causes  of  destruction  which  the 
Egyptians  could  not  foresee,  namely,  sebakh  and 
the  inundation  of  the  Nile.  The  hypos  tyle 
hall 

was  not  originally  intended  for  habitation  and  there 
was  no  reason  for  supposing  that  saltpetre  would  be 
formed.    But  from  the  time  of  the  Christian  era 
3 


34  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


habitations  became  numerous,  and  the  enormous 
amount  of  sehakh  and  rubbish  of  all  kinds  that  had 
to  be  removed  in  order  to  bring  to  light  a  part  of  the 
ancient  floor,  shows  how  numerous  the  houses  must 
have  been;  rubbish  rose,  indeed,  to  a  height  of  over 
seven  feet  in  the  hypostyle  hall;  there  remains  still 
in  the  south  side  a  mound,  about  25  feet  high.  The 
destructive  quality  of  the  earth  containing  salt- 
petre has  been  increased  a  hundred-fold  by  the  slow 
rising,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  of  the  bed  of  the 
Nile.  If  the  calculations  made  by  Grand-Pasha  and 
Ventre- Pasha  are  accurate,  the  average  rising  of  the 
bed  of  the  Nile,  owing  to  the  deposit  of  alluvium, 
may  be  estimated  at  3.744  inches  in  a  century. 
Now  the  hypostyle  hall  was  built  only  12.84  inches 
above  the  level  of  the  inundations;  scarcely  two 
hundred  years  after  its  construction,  the  foundations 
were  already  reached  by  the  infiltrations;  thirteen 
hundred  years  later,  about  the  year  600  of  our  era, 
the  water,  at  the  time  of  the  flood,  rose  above  the 
level  of  the  hall  and  came  in  contact  with  the  earth, 
containing  saltpetre  in  such  abundance.^ 

To  conclude:  for  thirteen  hundred  years,  the 

saltpetre,  derived  from  sehakh,  and  dissolved  by 

these  waters,  has  broken  up  the  grain  of  the 

porous  sandstone  and  has  disjointed  the  blocks, 

up  to  a  height  varying  now,  at  the  time  of 

the  annual  flood,  from  six  to  ten  feet  above  the 

ground. 

^  Reports  of  Maspero,  Legrain,  Ventre-Pasha,  Grand-Pasha, 
and  the  committee  in  Karnak  after  the  accident  of  Oct.  3,  1899 
(Annales  du  Service  des  Antiguites,  t.  i  and  following). 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  35 

The  Service  des  Antiquites  has  no  means  of 
defence  against  the  rising  level  of  the  Nile  and 
the  subsequent  overflow  into  the  temples;  all 
other  causes  of  destruction  it  is  within  man's 
power  to  combat  and  here  is  the  plan  of  defence 
that  was  worked  out  to  save  Karnak  and  event- 
ually the  other  temples  that  are  threatened  with 
destruction:  in  the  first  place,  the  removal  of  the 
sehakh;  in  the  second  place,  the  taking  down, 
layer  by  layer,  of  broken,  loosened,  or  suspected 
columns;  in  the  third  place,  the  entire  recon- 
struction of  the  foundations,  after  which  the 
removed  columns  are  to  be  replaced ;  in  the  fourth 
place,  moderate  irrigation  at  the  time  of  an 
inundation,  to  cleanse  the  ground  of  the  saltpetre 
brought  in  with  the  infiltrations  of  water  charged 
with  it. 

This  process,  easy  at  it  appears,  was  fraught 
with  enormous  difiiculties  in  the  case  of  Karnak; 
it  had  to  be  applied  first  to  the  north  side  of  the 
hypostyle,  where,  since  the  crumbling  of  the 
eleven  columns,  the  ground  was  strewn  with 
segments,  capitals,  pieces  of  abacuses,  and  archi- 
traves, some  blocks  of  which  weighed  from  5  to 
40  tons.  This  work  requiring  great  physical 
strength  had  to  be  done,  though  those  engaged  in 
it  were  imperilled,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 


36  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


columns  still  standing  might,  at  any  moment, 
fall,  several  of  them  being  in  an  uncertain  state 
of  equilibrium,  and  some  unstable  to  an  alarming 
degree.  The  clear  and  precise  instructions  of 
M.  Maspero  had  to  be  carried  out  by  a  clever  man, 
who  knew  all  the  strong  and  the  weak  points  of 
Karnak,  and  could,  in  case  of  emergency,  take  an 
intelligent  and  courageous  initiative.  These  quali- 
ties were  possessed,  in  an  eminent  degree,  by  M. 
Georges  Legrain,  who  had  held  the  office  of 
superintendent  in  Karnak  since  1895;  thanks  to 
him,  the  problem  of  the  reconstruction  of  Karnak 
is  solved  to-day,  at  least  in  its  most  difficult  points. 

The  work  was  begun  in  December,  1899.  At 
the  end  of  the  first  season,  in  1900,  the  five 
columns  shaken  by  the  impact  of  the  others  were 
taken  down,  segment  by  segment;  the  second 
season,  in  1901,  was  given  up  to  the  clearing  of  the 
eleven  columns  that  had  tumbled,  and  to  the  re- 
moval of  the  sebakh.  Now  that  the  ground  was 
clear,  it  was  possible  to  reach  the  foundations,  the 
stones  of  which  were  found  sound  and  unaffected 
by  saltpetre;  thus,  the  principal  cause  of  the 
crumbling  had  been  a  lack  of  masonry  in  the 
foundations,  rather  than  the  damage  done  to 
the  stones  by  the  water.  Relying  on  these  facts, 
M.  Maspero  could  apply,  in  1902,  a  proper  method 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  37 


of  reconstruction :  along  the  row  of  fallen  columns, 
a  trench  was  to  be  dug,  larger  than  the  base  of  the 
columns  and  as  deep  (about  6  feet)  as  the  ancient 
foundations ;  this  trench  was  to  be  filled  up  with  a 
floor  of  strong  concrete,  on  which  the  columns 
were  to  be  re-erected ;  each  column  of  a  particular 
row  was  to  be  joined  to  the  opposite  column  in  the 
adjacent  row  by  a  link  of  concrete,  so  that  the 
new  foundations  might  be  connected  with  the  old. 
The  plan  was  executed  without  delay.  On  the 
twelfth  of  April,  1902,  Lord  Cromer  laid  the  first 
stone  of  the  new  foundations,  and,  in  1903,  the 
eleven  crumbled  columns  were  re-erected  to  a 
height  of  18  feet.  The  stones  above  ground,  which 
the  sehakh  had  decomposed,  or  which  the  fall 
had  partly  shattered,  were  put  in  place  again  after 
having  been  patched  up  in  the  following  manner :  a 
rough  coat  of  cement,  or  even  a  block  of  sand- 
stone covered  the  scars,  stopped  up  the  holes, 
leaving  the  ancient  parts,  decorated  with  reliefs 
or  inscriptions,  to  project  half  an  inch  from  the 
modern  facing.  "Thus  a  proper  architectural 
form  was  obtained  which  made  it  possible  to 
readily  distinguish  the  ancient  parts  from  the 
modern  additions.'* 

The  new  foundations  were  subjected,  in  the 
summer  of  1903,  to  the  test  of  inundation;  they 


38  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


came  out  of  it  uninjured,  and  M.  Legrain  was 
able,  therefore,  in  1904  to  put  in  place  the  upper 
part  of  the  shaft  of  each  column,  the  capital  and 
the  abacus.  At  that  time  a  serious  difficulty 
presented  itself.  The  re-erected  columns  had  to 
be  kept  as  firm  at  the  top  as  the  new  foundations 
maintained  them  at  their  base.  But  the  stones 
composing  the  ceiling  had  been  missing  for  cen- 
turies; the  architraves  that  still  survived  had 
been  broken  in  their  fall,  or  were  of  no  use.  How 
were  they  to  be  replaced?  At  first,  it  was  thought 
that  a  network  of  iron  links  and  rings  should  be 
placed  round  the  necks  of  the  columns,  under  the 
capitals.  M.  Maspero  succeeded  in  having  this 
disgraceful  scheme  rejected.  Instead  of  the  rings, 
iron  beams  were  introduced  so  as  to  extend  from 
capital  to  capital,  and  were  concealed  by  a  coat 
of  cement  and  concrete,  which  was  shaped  like 
and  had  the  same  dimensions  as  the  ancient 
architraves.  "This  consolidation  is  to  be  ex- 
tended to  all  the  columns  of  the  hall,  and  it  seems 
fitting  that  the  flat  roof,  which  formerly  covered 
the  entire  hall,  be  restored."  The  erection  of  the 
capitals  and  the  architraves  occupied  the  winters 
of  1905  and  1906.  At  the  present  writing,  the 
damage  caused  by  the  catastrophe  of  1899  has 
been  repaired;  it  only  remains  to  secure  the  other 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  39 

parts  of  the  hypostyle  hall  against  a  similar 
accident.  Doubtless  it  is  a  stupendous  task, 
but  its  consummation  has  become  a  question  only 
of  patience  and  of  money,  for  the  method  and 
scheme  of  work,  having  been  tested  and  the  results 
found  convincing,  are  now  established. 

Yet  a  no  less  interesting  result  of  the  enterprise 
was  this:  the  method  adopted  was  not  effective 
in  all  respects  until  M.  Legrain  had  discovered  the 
processes  of  construction  of  the  Egyptian  archi- 
tects, in  order  to  apply  them  anew.  The  removal 
of  the  segments  of  the  fallen  columns  was  a  piece 
of  work  that  required  delicate  handling,  but  in 
other  respects  was  commonplace  enough.  When 
it  was  necessary,  however,  to  take  down,  piece  by 
piece,  the  columns  still  standing,  and  to  remove 
from  a  height  of  60  feet  masses  weighing  50  tons 
in  order  to  let  them  down  to  the  ground,  architects 
and  archaeologists  were  perplexed.  Should  a 
scaffolding  be  put  up,  forming  as  it  were  a  second 
hypostyle  hall  of  wood,  the  ceiling  of  which  would 
be  supplied  with  tackles  strong  enough  to  raise 
and  lower  the  mast-like  columns?  Such  a  thing 
was  considered  impossible,  on  account  of  the 
expense,  the  lack  of  material,  the  inadequacy  of 
the  force  of  workmen,  and  the  necessity  of  doing 
the  work  quickly.    M.   Legrain,   who  studied 


40  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Karnak,  so  to  speak,  stone  by  stone,  found  out 
how  the  ancient  Egyptians  had  solved  the  same 
problem,  one  concerned  not  with  the  demolition 
of  the  temple,  but  with  the  building  of  it;  not 
with  the  removal  of  the  architraves,  but  with  the 
raising  of  them. 

When  you  enter  the  great  court  of  Karnak, 
at  the  north-west  corner,  you  notice  at  once  heaps 
of  earth  supported  by  a  curbing  of  brick,  that  rise 
along  the  sides  of  the  pylon  and  bury  the  columns 
of  the  portico,  up  to  the  neck  (Plate  IV,  2). 
Columns  and  pylons  have  remained  unfinished  and 
these  mounds  are  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  scaf- 
foldings used  for  building.^  The  method  of  the 
Egyptian  builders,  then,  was  to  keep  raising  the 
ground  as  the  work  of  construction  advanced, 
thus  making  it  easy  to  place  each  successive 
layer  of  material.  Their  platforms  of  earth  were 
raised  progressively  with  the  walls  or  columns 
so  that  when  the  ceiling  was  being  made  over  the 
hypostyle,  the  hall  was  entirely  filled  with  earth, 
and  the  workmen  could  put  the  architraves  and 
stones  of  the  roof  in  place  as  easily  as  if  they 
stood  on  natural  ground. 

It  remains  to  be  explained  how  the  heavy  stones 
were  brought  up  to  these  terraces  which  were 

^  C/.  Choisy,  L'Art  de  bdtir  chez  les  EgypHens,  Paris,  1904. 


II.    Scaffolding  Used  in  Ancient  Times  in  Constructing. 
Plate  IV. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  41 


continually  rising.  We  see  from  what  remains  in 
place  at  Karnak,  that  the  Egyptians  employed 
two  methods.  When  there  was  room  enough  for 
the  platforms  of  earth  to  be  enlarged,  they  ar- 
ranged an  incline,  sloping  gradually,  on  which  the 
blocks,  placed  on  a  truck,  were  drawn  up  by  the 
strong  arms  of  a  hundred  workmen.  A  bas-  ^ 
relief,  in  a  tomb  of  the  Xllth  dynasty,  at  Bersheh, 
shows  us  a  procedure  of  this  kind:  the  feat  to  be 
accomplished  in  this  instance  is  to  haul  up  a 
colossal  monolithic  statue,  about  18  feet  high. 
The  statue,  placed  on  a  wooden  truck,  is  drawn 
by  four  lines  of  43  men ;  an  overseer  regulates  their 
efforts  by  clapping  his  hands  rhythmically,  and  a 
boy  pours  water  upon  the  hardened  earth  to 
lessen  the  friction  and  to  prevent  the  pieces  of 
wood  from  becoming  heated. '  But  often  the  space 
on  the  platform  was  not  sufficient  to  accommodate 
so  many  workmen  or  to  admit  of  a  gradual  incline. 
In  this  case,  steps  or  stairways  made  of  brick 
were  put  up  along  the  side  of  the  structure,  on 
which  wooden  elevators  (the  management  of  which 
has  been  explained  by  M.  Legrain)  were  made 
to  slide.  For  laying  the  corner-stone,  the  Egypt- 
ians made  use,  as  we  do,  of  a  diminutive  imple- 
ment, of  precious  material,  but  in  shape  exactly 

'  See  the  vignette  of  Maspero,  Histoire,  i,  p.  335. 


42  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


like  the  actual  tool.  The  hammers  or  trowels  of 
gold  and  silver  used  for  such  purposes  we  keep 
in  museums,  but  the  Egyptians  deposited  them  in 
the  foundations,  where  they  are  still  occasionally 
found.  Among  these  implements  has  come  to 
light  *'an  object  made  of  wood  with  a  rounded 
base,  consisting  of  two  bows  in  segments  of  a 
circle,"  joined  by  cross-bars.  One  may  form  a 
conception  of  it  by  comparing  it  with  one  of 
those  rocking  blotters  that  appear  on  our  writing 
tables.  Now,  this  object  could  not  represent 
the  curve  of  an  arch:  "some  specimens  bear 
inscriptions  that  would  be  upside  down  if  these 
objects  were  supposed  to  be  miniature  arches." 
M.  Legrain  and,  after  him,  M.  Choisy,  have 
demonstrated  that  this  apparatus  could  have  been 
used  only  as  a  truck,  or  as  a  hoisting-machine, 
swung  and  operated  by  a  lever;  by  successive 
swings  the  "elevator,"  loaded  with  rough  stones, 
mounted  the  brick  stairway  found  at  Karnak. 
According  to  Herodotus,^  the  Egyptians  of  the 
fifth  century  used  to  say  that  the  pyramids  had 
been  built  by  means  of  light  machines,  moving 
along  the  steps  formed  by  superposed  courses  of 
stone.  It  seems  likely  that  these  "light  ma- 
chines" are  the  swinging  elevators  just  described. 

^  I,  ii,  125.    CJ.  Diodorus,  i,  63. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  43 


Along  the  platform,  which  rose  gradually  to  the 
ceiling  of  the  hypostyle  hall,  there  was  a  series  of 
steps;  the  larger  blocks  were  hoisted  by  means 
of  levers,  and  the  medium-sized  stones  by  the 
aid  of  the  swinging  elevator.  This  explains  why 
no  trace  is  found  at  Karnak  of  any  wooden  scaf- 
folding: the  Egyptian  monuments  were  erected 
by  means  of  embankments,  cleared  away  after 
the  completion  of  the  work,  and  by  the  aid  of 
small  movable  machines  which  have  left  no  trace. 

M.  Legrain,  who  had  to  undertake  immediately 
the  work  of  repairing,  had  no  engines  at  his  dis- 
posal, and  both  time  and  money  were  lacking  to 
import  them  from  Europe.  Following  then  the 
example  of  the  Egyptians,  he  raised  mounds 
maintained  by  a  curbing  of  brick  and  on  this 
elevated  ground  he  placed  pulleys  and  tackles. 
When,  under  the  most  careful  supervision,  the 
hydraulic  screw-jacks  had  loosened  the  split 
architraves,  the  latter  were  heaved  by  tackles  and 
placed  on  the  trucks;  it  was  then  comparatively 
easy  to  let  them  down  to  the  ground,  by  sliding 
them  along  the  incline.  The  removal  of  an  archi- 
trave weighing  30  tons,  a  feat  which  I  witnessed  in 
January,  1904,  took  scarcely  more  than  one  morn- 
ing. After  the  columns  had  been  taken  down, 
the  mounds  had  to  be  cleared  away,  so  that  the 


44  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


foundations  might  be  dug;  after  which  the  mounds 
had  to  be  heaped  up  again  to  enable  the  workmen 
to  raise  the  columns.  The  capitals  were  put  in 
their  former  place  by  employing  the  same  method 
used  for  taking  them  down.  The  ancient  process, 
supplemented  by  modern  equipment,  made  it 
possible  to  carry  on  the  work  expeditiously,  and, 
above  all,  economically  and  securely  (Plates  III, 
2,  and  IV,  i). 

The  above  description  should  not  convey  the 
idea  that  the  Service  des  Antiquites  does  not  make 
use  of  the  resources  of  modern  science  and  en- 
gineering. The  methods  vary  according  to  the 
condition  of  the  buildings  and  the  inclination  of 
the  archaeologists.  At  Edfu,  for  instance,  for  a 
task  of  a  rather  different  nature,  M.  Barsanti 
rejected  the  ancient  method.  The  enclosure  wall 
of  the  temple,  on  the  west  side,  occasioned  the 
keenest  anxiety.  The  foundations  of  this  gigantic 
wall  of  sandstone,,  about  60  feet  high,  were 
unstable;  the  base  was  sinking  into  the  ground, 
and  the  entire  middle  part,  forced  forward,  bulged 
out  rather  dangerously  above  the  passage.  M. 
Barsanti  accepted  the  ungrateful  task  of  tearing 
down  the  entire  wall  and  laying  it  flat — each  block 
being  carefully  numbered  and  marked  as  to  its 
place  —  on  the  waste  land  around.     It  was  a 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  45 


strange  sight:  there,  spread  out  on  the  ground, 
were  mythologic  scenes  of  wars  fought  by  Horns 
against  Set,  recorded  on  thousands  of  carefully 
arranged  stones,  that  were  priceless  because  of 
the  stories  inscribed  upon  them.  The  founda- 
tions once  relaid,  M.  Barsanti  raised  the  whole 
of  it  anew,  stone  by  stone,  and  such  was  his  care 
that  not  a  fragment  was  lost!  This  wall  looks 
to-day  as  though  it  had  on  no  occasion  been 
touched,  since  the  time  of  the  Ptolemies.  But 
this  was  only  a  beginning.  The  portico  had  to  be 
rebuilt  in  the  west  side  of  the  court.  M.  Bar- 
santi, rejecting  the  Pharaonic  methods,  erected 
an  imposing  scaffolding  in  order  to  support  the 
stones  of  the  ceiling,  and  the  architraves,  and 
also  to  encircle  the  columns.^ 

It  is  never  without  a  secret  misgiving  [wrote  M. 
Maspero,  in  his  Rapport  of  1905]  that  I  determine 
to  begin  so  vast  a  work,  in  which  the  least  negligence 
of  the  directors,  or  foremen  of  the  work-yard,  is  likely 
to  cause  disasters.  Here,  however,  the  urgency  was 
especially  great,  because  a  collapse  of  the  structure, 
similar  to  that  which  had  so  badly  damaged  the 
hypostyle  hall  at  Karnak,  seemed  alarmingly  im- 
minent. The  long  experience  of  M.  Barsanti,  his 
presence  of  mind,  the  perfect  training  of  his  workmen 
and  the  absolute  confidence  they  have  in  him  make 

^  See  the  report  of  M.  Barsanti  in  Annates  du  Service  des 
AntiguUes,  t.  vii. 


46  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


me  firmly  believe  that  he  will  acquit  himself  of  this 
task  successfully. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  I  saw  this  very  arduous  work 
well  on  the  way,  in  April,  1906,  and  not  the  least 
accident  had  yet  happened.  A  few  hours  spent  in 
Edfu  are  sufficient  for  realising  what  self-sacrifice 
and  perseverance  an  archaeologist  must  have,  in 
order  to  fulfil  so  difficult  and  perilous  a  task,  in 
absolute  solitude,  without  any  other  encourage- 
ment than  the  occasional  visits  of  tourists. 

After  the  completion  of  these  important  works, 
thankless  tasks  in  connection  wdth  other  sites 
will  engage  the  attention  of  M.  Barsanti  and  the 
other  Inspectors.  It  is  the  intention  to  save  the 
beautiful  sanctuary  of  Gournah,  the  foundations 
of  which  are  so  unstable.  As  for  the  great  pylons 
of  Karnak  and  of  the  Rameseum,  the  facings  of 
which  are  cracked,  thus  allowing  the  filling  to 
come  out — like  a  gigantic  pie  the  crust  of  which 
bursts  into  pieces — they  will  soon  have  their  an- 
cient mounds  remade  by  workmicn,  in  order  that 
the  fallen  stones  may  be  put  in  place  again. 
What  surprises,  in  the  form  of  texts  and  bas- 
reliefs,  will  their  immense  walls,  when  once  rebuilt, 
hold  in  store  for  us? 

The  works  undertaken  at  Luxor,  Karnak,  Edfu, 
and  in  many  other  places,  give  a  sufficient  in- 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  47 


dication  of  the  main  purpose  of  the  Service  des 
Antiquites  at  the  present  time:  "to  devote  every 
resource  to  bring  about  the  restoration  and  the 
methodical  clearing  of  the  temples  and  the 
cemeteries."  The  Service  leaves  to  wealthy- 
individuals  and  scientific  societies  the  task  of 
adding  to  the  number  of  Egyptian  relics  by  mak- 
ing fresh  excavations,  though  it  excludes  such 
persons  and  societies  from  a  few  sites  where 
excavation  is  inseparable  from  clearing,  as  at 
Karnak  and  Sakkarah;  it  intends  to  confine  its 
energy  to  the  preservation  of  antiquities — so  much 
neglected  up  to  the  present  time.  A  scholar 
like  M.  Maspero,  who,  it  is  conceded  by  every- 
one, occupies  the  first  place  in  Egyptology,  may 
devote  his  time  to  a  task  to  all  appearances 
thankless;  but  a  work  requiring  patience  and 
method  always  brings  a  recompense,  often  of  un- 
expected significance.  At  Karnak,  for  instance, 
the  mere  necessity  of  removing  the  earth,  to  con- 
struct an  incline,  resulted  in  the  discovery,  as 
M.  Legrain's  digging  progressed,  of  more  new 
monuments  than  had  been  discovered  since  the 
heroic  times  when  Mariette  brought  to  light  the 
Serapeum.  Temples  rose  in  their  completeness 
from  the  earth  or  the  rubbish:  the  temple  of 
Ramses  III,  the  temple  of  the  Theban  Phtah,  the 


48  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


temple  of  Osiris,  lord  of  eternity;  splendid  pillars 
erected  by  Ousirtasen  III  and  representing  what 
remains  of  the  Thebes,  of  the  Xllth  dynasty, 
until  then  unknown;  a  complete  structure  built 
by  Amenophis  I,  subsequently  demolished  for 
some  unknown  reason,  by  Thothmes  III,  which 
was  found  in  the  earth,  but  so  well  preserved  that 
it  will  be  possible  to  re-erect  it  in  its  ancient  con- 
dition; finally,  at  the  bottom  of  a  pond,  filled 
with  stagnant  water  from  the  infiltrations  of  the 
Nile,  there  was  discovered  the  entrance  to  a 
miraculous  hiding-place,  whence  800  statues  (of 
all  sizes  and  periods,  some  of  beautiful  workman- 
ship, most  of  them  covered  with  inscriptions  of 
great  historic  value)  and  more  than  15,000  pieces 
in  bronze  were  brought  forth  in  the  space  of  two 
years  :^  1 903-1 905. 

The  excavation  has  not  been  completed,  and 
the  site  still  yields  its  treasures.  At  Sakkarah, 
the  clearing  of  the  desert  sand  enabled  M. 
Quibell  to  come  upon  pyramids  built  by  the  kings 
of  the  Heracleopolitan  dynasties,  unknown  to  us 
until  then;  farther  north  M.  Barsanti  has  been 
working  for  years  to  uncover  a  superb  monument, 

^  See,  for  further  information  about  this  discovery,  Maspero's 
Revue  de  I' Art  ancien  et  moderne,  1906.  M.  Legrain  has  begun 
the  publication  of  an  account  of  these  statues  in  the  Catalogue 
oj  the  Cairo  Museum;  the  first  volume  was  issued  in  1906. 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  49 


which  has  not  yet  disclosed  its  secret,  but  which 
seems  more  ancient  than  any  other  monument  dis- 
covered up  to  the  present  time.  Such  finds  are, 
indeed,  a  compensation  for  so  many  days  spent 
in  arduous  work,  fraught  with  responsibihty. 
They  explain  the  joy  and  patience  with  which 
workmen  and  engineers,  masons'  servers  and 
Egyptologists  are  working  away,  in  order  to 
disinter  a  prehistoric  Sakkarah,  or  a  new 
Thebes,  coming  out  of  its  ruins  to  eclipse  rival 
cities,  as  in  the  time  of  the  glory  of  the  god 
Amon. 

The  work  undertaken  by  M.  Maspero  and  his 

active   assistants   has,    moreover,    a  scientific 

importance  that  extends  far  beyond  the  valley 

of  the  Nile.    The  archaeologists  of  all  countries 

may  profit  by  the  experiments  made  in  Egypt, 

though  the  learned  men  who  are  conducting  them 

work  in  silence,  without  publicity,  and  are  hardly 

known,  until  their  task  is  achieved.    No  problem 

has  been  more  discussed  than  that  of  restoring 

ancient  monuments.    There  are  as  many  solutions 

as  cases.    Account  must  be  taken  of  the  state  of 

preservation  of  the  monuments,  of  their  power  of 

resistance,  and  an  important  question  to  decide 

is  also  whether  their  value  is  of  an  essentially 
4 


50  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


artistic  nature,  or  whether  they  are  precious  only 
to  the  historian  and  to  the  archaeologist. 

From  a  practical  point  of  view,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  abandonment  of  half-ruined  edifices  is 
fatal  to  the  preservation  of  their  fragments. 
Whenever  it  is  possible  to  raise  a  wall  or  a  colon- 
nade, by  using  a  sufficient  number  of  ancient 
stones,  a  restoration  should  be  undertaken.  In 
that  connection,  M.  Maspero  found  parallel  cases 
that  engaged  the  attention  of  archaeologists  in 
other  countries.  Delegated  in  1905  by  the 
Khedive  to  the  Archaeological  Congress  in  Athens, 
he  used  his  time  to  good  advantage  in  making 
a  brief  investigation  of  the  methods  employed 
in  Greece  in  clearing  monuments  and  in  keeping 
them  in  repair. 

I  went  to  Delphi  [he  wrote],  where  M.  Hornolle 
showed  me  the  methods  employed  by  the  French 
mission,  then  to  Olympia,  the  site  of  German  excava- 
tions. The  aspect  of  these  two  sites  convinced  me 
that  we  were  right  in  rebuilding  the  remains  and 
reconstructing  the  edifices  whenever  we  could  do  so 
without  using  anything  but  the  old  material.  Frag- 
ments of  architectural  or  sculptural  work  soon  go  to 
ruin  if  left  where  they  are  found,  exposed  to  the 
weather,  whereas  similar  fragments  restored  to  their 
former  place  have  proved  firm  and  durable.  At 
Olympia,  a  certain  temple,  or  part  of  a  temple,  the 
existence  of  which  would  have  been  considerably 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  51 


prolonged  had  the  edifice  been  rebuilt  at  the  time  of 
discovery,  is  now  certain  to  go  to  waste  in  a  short 
time  because  it  was  left  in  contact  with  the  ground 
too  long.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Treasury  of  the 
Athenians,  and  of  the  portions  of  the  other  buildings 
which  M.  HomoUe  reconstructed  at  Delphi,  will 
survive  for  many  centuries  against  the  action  of  the 
weather.  This  example  was  an  encouragement  to 
me  to  persevere  in  the  task  undertaken,  and  to  re- 
erect  or  to  complete  the  construction  of  those  monu- 
ments, a  sufficient  quantity  of  the  old  building 
material  of  which  is  available,  and  the  proper  place 
of  the  constituent  parts  of  which  can  with  certainty 
be  determined.' 

Nevertheless,  it  must  be  confessed,  something 
is  sacrificed  when  a  temple  is  restored:  the  mel- 
ancholy of  the  abandoned  ruins,  the  dream  that 
called  forth  the  image  of  the  dead  cities.  In  our 
passion  for  knowledge,  are  we  not  laying  impious 
hands  upon  these  lifeless  temples?  Is  it  a  true 
work  of  civilisation  to  endeavour  to  check  the 
inevitable  ruin  of  what  was  great  and  splendid, 
but  will  never  be  so  again?  .  .  .  Will  the  hypo- 
style  hall,  with  its  rebuilt  columns  bearing  but  a 
few  scars  of  time,  with  its  architraves,  in  part 
false,  impress  the  mind  with  its  majesty  of 
yore?  And  when  the  magnificent  debris  of  the 
pylons  has  been  converted  into  regular  walls, 

*  Rapport  de  IQ03. 


52  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


shall  we  feel  that  we  really  enter  the  house  of  the 
great  god  Amon?  Is  not  the  real  Thebes  the 
Thebes  in  ruins,  where  death  is  in  its  place, 
and  not  the  city  restored,  where  the  pulse  of  life 
will  beat  nevermore? 

These  distressing  questions  obtrude  themselves 
upon  our  minds  when  we  see  modern  activity 
struggling  with  the  mystery  of  ancient  ruins.  I 
remember  one  day  watching  the  descent,  along 
an  incline,  of  a  venerable  architrave.  The  enor- 
mous stone  was  strewn  with  palm-leaves,  covered 
with  flags,  in  order  to  ward  off  any  bad  omen ;  the 
fellahs  pulled  at  the  ropes  and  responded  in  a 
ringing  voice  to  the  shouts  of  an  overseer,  in 
unison  applying  their  energy  to  the  task  as  he 
addressed  successively  his  invocations  to  Allah. 
While  the  stone  was  sliding,  I  imagined  a  like 
scene  in  the  same  place  three  thousand  years 
ago,  when  the  block,  brought  from  the  quarries  of 
Silsileh,  was  drawn  up  the  slope,  towed  along  in 
the  same  manner  to  the  sound  of  similar  songs. 
Then  also,  the  stone  was  perhaps  venerated  and 
adorned  like  a  saint;  perhaps  the  same  story  was 
related  about  it,  as  about  many  another  stone. 
We  may  decipher  in  the  quarry  of  Ouady-Ham- 
mamat  the  following: 

Miracle  .  .  .  that  came  to  pass  in  those  days  .  .  .  ; 


Restoration  of  Egyptian  Temples  53 


as  the  workmen  descended  the  mountain,  lo!  a 
marvellous  gazelle  appeared;  she  walked  in  front, 
leading  our  people,  who  followed  with  their  eyes  fixed 
upon  her.  Never  turned  she  her  head  until  she 
reached  this  stone,  in  the  sacred  mountain.  .  .  . 
Then  she  brought  forth  her  little  fawn  on  this  stone, 
before  the  eyes  of  the  whole  army;  her  neck  was  cut, 
she  was  burnt  upon  the  stone  with  incense,  and  the 
block  arrived  safely  in  Egypt.  .  . 

Nowadays,  it  is  in  the  name  of  Mahomet 
that  the  stones  descend  or  are  raised,  submissive 
though  touched  by  the  hands  of  the  unbelievers. 
It  was  in  vain  that  the  gazelle  shed  her  blood, 
and  that  the  ancient  workmen  applied  their  hard 
labour!  The  work  to  which  so  many  thousands 
of  beings  devoted  their  lives  for  centuries,  could 
not  escape  ultimate  ruin;  yet  a  monument  loses 
something  of  its  mystery  and  lofty  beauty  when 
engineers  and  archasologists  come  to  test  its  weak- 
nesses, clear  its  ruins,  or  raise  its  walls. 

The  work  carried  on  in  Egypt  is  not,  however, 
prompted  by  curiosity.  The  restoration  of  the 
temples  is  a  necessary  evil  for  thus  greater  disas- 
ters are  averted.  The  purpose  is  not  to  gratify 
the  visitor's  eye  by  presenting  to  his  view  un- 
broken lines  and  structures  in  their  entirety. 

^  Erman,  Wunderzeichen  in  Hammamdt,  ap.  Zeitschrift  fiir 
(Bgyptische  Sprache,  xxix,  p.  60. 


54  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Beauty  of  outline  is  not  the  only  attractive  feature 
of  the  Egyptian  temples:  it  would  perhaps  be 
better  policy  to  leave  to  their  fate  these  picturesque 
ruins,  if  it  were  the  artists  only  who  took  an  inter- 
est in  them.  But  these  monuments  and  walls  are 
covered  with  figures  and  texts  of  unique  interest 
in  connection  with  the  history  of  ideas  and  of  men : 
to  rescue  from  destruction  these  remaining  annals 
of  mankind,  these  fragments  of  rituals  and  of 
theogonies,  is  to  preserve  for  humanity  its  family- 
papers  or  title-deeds,  and  its  inheritance  from  the 
dim  ages.  That  is  why  it  is  useful  and  necessary 
to  rebuild  hypostyle  halls  and  pylons.  Artists 
and  those  with  delicate  sensibiHties  may  rest  as- 
sured that  those  are  pious  hands  that  touch  the 
sacred  stones! 


CHAPTER  II 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy 

Toward  the  end  of  the  summer  of  i887j  in  a 
rarely  frequented  district  of  Middle  Egypt,  at 
a  spot  near  the  village  of  Haggi-Kandil,  which  is 
inhabited  by  the  Beduins  of  El-Amarna,  some 
fellahs,  in  search  of  building  material  furnished 
by  the  old  temples,  which  are  their  inexhaustible 
quarries,  were  unconcernedly  pulling  down  por- 
tions of  the  walls  forming  the  appendage  of  a 
large  building  now  identified  as  a  palace  of 
Amenophis  IV  (fifteenth  century  before  our  era). 

Amenophis  IV  was  the  son  of  Amenophis  III 
and  of  that  Queen  Tii  whose  seals  have  been  found 
in  the  Mycenaean  palaces  of  Crete  and  Greece. 
Egypt  was  at  that  time  the  ruler  of  the  East, 
over  which  it  had  held  sway  ever  since  the  Pha- 
raohs of  the  XVIIIth  dynasty  had  established 
their  sovereignty  over  the  Eastern  Mediterranean, 
the  Red  Sea,  and  hither  Asia.  In  order  to  be 
nearer  the  Delta  and  Syria,  Amenophis  IV  had 

55 


56  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


abandoned  Thebes,  the  capital  of  his  fathers;  north 
of  Siut,  in  Middle  Egypt,  he  built  his  new  city  of 
Khounatonou.  These  were  the  ruins  which  our 
fellahs  were  pillaging. 

In  clearing  the  rubbish  from  the  ground,  they 
hit  at  once  on  something  much  better  than  they 
had  expected:  fine  bricks,  some  baked,  some  un- 
baked; some  square,  others  oblong;  the  grain  of 
these  bricks  was  very  fine  and  their  colour  varied 
from  black  to  yellow  and  red.  They  were  excel- 
lent materials  for  our  masons ;  did  one  of  them  try 
to  wipe  off  the  secular  dust  or  was  it  a  puff  of 
wind  that  blew  away  the  sand  lodged  in  the  pores 
of  the  ancient  clay?  Suddenly  it  was  noticed 
that  there  were  curious  signs  upon  the  tablets, 
which  seemed  to  have  been  scratched  upon  them 
with  a  stylus  and  which  were  accurately  divided 
by  regular  lines.  Every  peasant  in  Egypt  knows 
that  his  soil  conceals  treasures:  consequently  the 
bricks  and  clay  tablets  bearing  inscriptions  were 
treated  with  respect.  After  fiu*ther  digging, 
two  hiding-places  in  the  form  of  wells  soon  ap- 
peared which  were  filled  with  engraved  tablets. 
The  treasures  were  heaped  up  in  baskets  fastened 
to  the  backs  of  donkeys,  and,  a  few  days  later,  the 
dealers  in  antiquities  at  Akhmi,  Luxor,  and  Cairo 
had  on  sale  part  of  the  inscriptions. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  57 


The  first  scholars  informed  of  the  find  were 
M.  Bouriant,  then  Director  of  the  French  School 
in  Cairo,  and  M.  Grebaut,  then  Director  of  the 
Service  des  Antiquites;  they  bought  a  few  speci- 
mens, and,  much  amazed  to  find  in  Egypt  a 
stock  of  Babylonian  tablets,  written  in  cunei- 
form, they  sent  the  inscribed  tablets  to  the  most 
important  Assyriologists :  M.  Oppert,  professor  at 
the  College  de  France,  and  Mr.  Sayce  of  London. 
The  surprise  was  so  great  that  the  tablets  were 
at  first  suspected  of  being  spurious  and  were  dis- 
carded by  the  specialists.  But  when  the  rumour 
was  spread  that  there  existed  hundreds — some 
Said  thousands — of  tablets  bearing  inscriptions, 
it  became  improbable  that  the  forger  had  manu- 
factured so  many. 

The  museums  in  London,  Paris,  Vienna,  and 
Berlin,  made  a  few  timid  purchases;  the  majority  of 
the  tablets  passed  into  the  hands  of  Daninos-Pasha 
of  Alexandria,  and  of  the  collector  Graf,  who  sold 
them  to  the  Museum  of  Berlin.  After  the  month 
of  April,  1886,  not  a  vestige  of  doubt  remained; 
Mr.  Sayce  in  London  deciphered  the  names  of 
Babylonian  kings  and  Syrian  dynasts;  the  great 
Egyptologist  in  Berlin,  Mr.  Adolf  Erman,  read  the 
cartouches  of  the  Pharaohs,  Amenophis  III,  and 
Amendphis  IV,  written  in  cuneiform;  it  was  soon 


58  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


discovered  that  these  tablets  were  missives  of 
marvellous  interest,  exchanged,  in  the  time  of  the 
Egyptian  hegemony  in  Asia,  between  the  princes 
of  Syria  and  of  kingdoms  adjacent  to  it,  and  their 
overlords,  the  Pharaohs.  It  was  the  oldest  dip- 
lomatic correspondence  known  dating  thirty -four 
centuries  back — that  the  donkeys  had  carried  in 
their  baskets,  raised  for  once  to  the  dignity  of  a 
diplomatic  mail-bag. 

Is  it  not  sad  to  have  to  confess  that,  on  this 
occasion,  the  critical  acumen  of  the  scholars  was 
more  injurious  to  the  tablets  than  the  ignorance 
of  the  fellahs?  Of  course,  more  than  one  tablet 
was  crumbled  by  the  pick  of  the  excavators,  or 
broken  in  pieces  while  being  conveyed  on  the 
back  of  a  donkey.  An  accident  of  the  same  kind 
happened  to  the  royal  papyrus  now  preserved  at 
Turin  but  irreparably  mutilated.  It  was  found 
intact,  and  put  in  a  jar  to  be  transported  on  the 
back  of  a  donkey,  but  when  the  jar  was  uncovered, 
the  papyrus  was  found  in  bits;  its  pieces,  pasted 
together,  are  still  the  most  precious  chronological 
document  of  the  history  of  Egypt.  The  tablets 
of  El-Amarna,  disdained  by  merchants,  refused 
by  scholars,  suffered  irreparable  damage  in  the 
course  of  their  wanderings.  There  remain  hardly 
three  hundred  of  them;  perhaps  there  were  twice 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  59 


as  many  in  the  beginning.  At  least,  those  that 
remain  to  us  are  to-day  valued  at  their  proper 
worth,  as  they  are  considered  a  priceless  ac- 
quisition. The  Assyriologists  of  every  country 
— in  England,  Sayce  and  Budge;  in  Germany, 
Bezold  and  Winckler;  in  France,  Halevy,  Delattre, 
and  Scheil — have  translated  and  commented  upon 
these  texts,  and  as  a  result  of  their  searching 
labours  the  meaning  of  these  tablets  has  become  a 
matter  of  common  knowledge. 

As  soon  as  the  first  deciphering  of  all  these  tab- 
lets enabled  one  to  get  a  hint  of  their  meaning, 
it  was  obvious  that  the  pieces  of  this  diplomatic 
correspondence  had  been  classified  in  series ;  there 
were  six  letters  of  a  king  of  Babylon,  nine  of  the 
king  of  Alasia,  four  of  the  king  of  Mitanni, — all 
of  them  dealing  with  particular  cases  and  account- 
ing for  long-pursued  negotiations.  A  certain  man, 
Rib-Addi,  had  sent  forty-six  missives ;  others,  such 
as  Arad-Hibaof  Jerusalem,  and  Azirou,  governor  of 
a  Syrian  city,  had  written  from  five  to  ten  letters ; 
and  about  a  hundred  other  correspondents  are 
represented  by  one  or  two  letters.  We  have  thus 
to  do  with  notes  and  reports  of  an  official  character ; 
on  one  of  the  tablets  mention  is  made  of  the 
''repository  for  archives  in  the  royal  palace";  one 


6o  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


letter,  quoted  below,  invites  the  Pharaoh  to  refer 
to  the  notes  filed  in  his  offices.  The  two  rooms 
in  ruins,  still  to  be  seen  in  El-Amarna,  were 
perhaps  a  kind  of  repository  for  the  archives  of 
the  Pharaonic  Foreign  Office. 

This  repository  was  scarcely  more  than  a 
store-house  where  the  tablets  were  piled  up,  like 
old  papers  in  the  storerooms  of  our  public  build- 
ings. A  short  inscription,  in  Egyptian  characters, 
written  in  the  margin  of  a  cuneiform  despatch, 
informs  us  that  the  repository  was  originally  at 
Thebes,  the  seat  of  the  Pharaohs  of  the  XVIIIth 
dynasty;  when  Amendphis  IV  left  Thebes  for 
Khounatonou  (El-Amarna),  in  order  to  found  a 
new  religious  and  political  capital,  he  took  with 
him  his  civil  service,  and  the  diplomatic  archives 
were  placed  in  a  modest  annex  of  his  palace. 

Some  information  has  come  down  to  us  regard- 
ing the  staff  of  officials  attached  to  the  archives: 
a  seal  has  been  found,  engraved  with  the  name  of 
*'Tetou-nou,  the  man  of  Shamas-niki. "  Tetou- 
nou,  as  his  name  indicates,  was  an  Egyptian;  his 
office  seems  to  have  been  that  of  scribe  in  the 
service  of  Shamas-niki,  who  was  certainly  a  Baby- 
lonian. Professor  Flinders  Petrie,  who,  in  1891, 
excavated  thoroughly  that  part  of  El-Amarna,  has 
deciphered  a  new  name,  that  of  a  functionary, 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  6i 


written  in  ink  on  a  block:  "the  royal  scribe 
Ra-Apii. "  He  believes,  not  without  foundation, 
that  he  was  the  Egyptian  director  of  this  service, 
and  had  under  his  command  the  Babylonian 
Shamas-niki,  who  was  in  turn  assisted  by  the 
Egyptian  Tetou-nou.^ 

The  presence  of  a  foreigner,  of  a  Babylonian,  in 
this  Pharaonic  ministry  is  explained  by  the  fact 
that  all  the  diplomatic  documents  are  written  in 
cuneiform  characters,  that  is,  characters  foreign 
to  Egypt.  The  use  of  this  writing  at  the  Phara- 
onic court  was  an  absolute  innovation ;  no  previous 
document  shows  any  trace  of  it ;  yet  we  ought  not 
to  be  astonished  that  a  foreigner  was  appointed 
to  this  Foreign  Office.  Egyptian  hieroglyphics 
represent  letters,  syllabic  sounds,  and  ideas,  by 
means  of  men,  animals,  plants,  and  diverse  other 
things  reproduced  with  the  most  scrupulous 
accuracy;  the  signs  are  very  easy  to  recognise, 
and  to  Egyptologists  the  reading  of  them  at  sight 
is  a  fascinating  occupation  that  presents  little 
difficulty.  The  characters  of  the  Babylonians,  on 
the  contrary,  which  originally  comprised  figures 
similar  to  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics,  soon  de- 
teriorated into  stiff  conventional  figures,  no  longer 
bearing  resemblance  to  the  object  represented. 

'  Sayce  ap  .  Fl.  Petrie,  El-Amarna,  p.  23. 


62  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


The  use  of  clay  tablets,  instead  of  papyrus,  and 
of  a  style  for  inscribing  the  signs  led  the  scribes  of 
the  Euphrates  to  replace  the  sinuous  outlines 
of  a  human  figure,  or  of  an  animal,  or  the  shape 
of  an  object  by  a  series  of  rigid  strokes,  to  which 
the  style  gave  the  appearance  of  a  nail  or  wedge 
(whence  the  name  cuneiform,  from  the  Latin 
cuneus,  wedge).  Little  by  little,  a  star,  the  head 
of  an  animal,  a  human  hand,  became  merely  a 
succession  of  scratches  arranged  along  vertical 
or  horizontal  lines;  to-day,  the  inexperienced  eye 
no  longer  recognises  in  them  the  figures  which 
they  were  intended  to  represent,  any  more  than  in 
the  case  of  the  Chinese  signs,  which  are,  likewise, 
silhouettes  of  beings  and  things,  though  con- 
ventionalised beyond  recognition. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  cuneiform  writing  is 
not  attractive  to  the  eye,  it  has  the  advantage 
of  being  clean-cut  and  easy  to  trace.  That  is 
why — as  the  tablets  of  El-Amarna  teach  us — 
it  was  adopted  in  all  Western  Asia,  having  been 
in  use  probably  since  the  almost  legendary  time 
of  the  conquest  of  Syria  and  Mesopotamia  by 
Sargon,  the  elder,  King  of  Babylonia  (3500 
years  B.C.). 

The  system  of  writing  in  these  letters  [M.  Halevy 
tells  us]  is  the  Babylonian  cursive;  the  language  is  the 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  63 

ordinary  Babylonian,  which  was  then  the  language 
used  for  literary  purposes,  not  only  by  Semitic  people 
of  the  North,  but  by  all  the  peoples  of  the  Taurus  and 
Amanus  who  had  some  degree  of  civilisation.  Along 
the  upper  part  of  the  Euphrates,  the  Babylonian 
system  of  writing  had  been  adjusted  to  the  non- 
Semitic  dialects  used  in  these  countries. 

It  is  this  last  very  curious  circumstance  that 
accounts  for  the  fact  that  two  letters,  found 
among  the  El-Amarna  collection,  were  written 
in  cuneiform  signs,  but  in  a  language  still  un- 
known: that  of  Mitanni.  We  can  read  the 
sounds,  but  not  the  sense  of  these  letters!  A  few 
Indo-European  peoples  of  hither  Asia  had  also 
adopted  the  Babylonian  cuneiform  as  a  vehicle 
of  their  language;  Musee  Guimet,  for  instance, 
possesses  several  texts  of  an  Indo-European 
language,  written  in  cuneiform,  which  were 
collected  by  M.  Chantre  in  Cappadocia. 

Though  Egypt  was,  owing  to  its  propinquity, 
in  touch  with  Babylonian  civilisation,  which 
w^as  disseminated  through  wtI tings,  the  Egyptian 
officials,  appointed  to  the  office  of  international 
correspondence,  needed  a  long  initiation  in  order 
to  fill  properly  their  duties  of  translators  and 
scribes.  The  foreign  language  and  writing  were 
not  easy  to  acquire  and  had  to  be  learned  from 
a  specially  prepared  vocabulary,  some  fragments 


64  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


of  which  Professor  Petrie  found.  These  are 
bricks  carefully  divided  into  three  columns ;  in  the 
first  is  written  the  sign  of  the  writing,  or  ideo- 
gram; in  the  second,  its  transcription  into  the 
syllabic  equivalents  of  the  Semitic-Babylonian 
dialect  in  use  among  the  various  peoples  of 
Western  Asia ; .  in  the  third,  the  pronunciation  of 
this  sign  in  Sumerian,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  original 
Babylonian  language.  One  of  these  treatises 
contains  the  statement  that  the  vocabulary  was 
drawn  up  *'by  order  of  the  king  of  Egypt." 

The  Pharaoh  certainly  placed  much  importance 
on  a  thorough  study  of  the  foreign  language,  for  a 
knowledge  of  the  Sumerian  transcription  was  not 
really  necessary,  except  for  those  who  wished  to 
master  the  cuneiform  completely.' 

The  attention  paid  to  this  foreign  language  is, 
however,  explicable,  when  one  takes  into  consid- 
eration that  not  only  the  messages  of  Asiatic 
princes  or  chiefs  were  composed  in  it,  but  that  it 
was  used  also  by  the  Pharaohs  themselves.  A 
long  letter  from  Amen6phis  III  to  a  king  of 
Babylon  is  composed  in  the  same  dialect  as  the 
message  to  which  it  is  a  reply  ;^  one  of  the  royal 
princes  of  Egypt  wrote  to  his  royal  father  in  cunei- 

»  Petrie,  El-Amarna,  PI.  XXXII,  5. 
"  Revue  S^mitique,  1893,  p.  49. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  65 


form;  the  Egyptian  governors  corresponded  with 
the  offices  of  the  metropoHs  in  the  Babylonian 
language  and  not  in  Egyptian  hieroglyphics.' 
The  fact  that  no  other  language  than  this  was 
employed  for  diplomatic  correspondence  is  in 
itself  of  great  importance,  especially  if  one  wants 
to  compare  the  stages  of  culture  which  Chaldea 
and  Egypt  had  reached  in  the  fifteenth  century 
before  our  era.  From  an  historic  point  of  view, 
however,  this  evidence  is  also  of  great  interest. 
It  justifies  us  in  reaching  the  conclusion  that  the 
Pharaohs  showed,  in  the  administration  of  their 
Asiatic  provinces,  an  adaptability  and  a  political 
spirit  that  was,  to  say  the  least,  unexpected.  A 
more  detailed  study  of  their  rule  would  surprise 
those  who  believe  that  the  government  of  tribu- 
tary lands  and  the  exercise  of  diplomacy  at  long 
range  are  modern  arts,  unknown  to  antiquity. 

Egypt  never  considered  herself  safe,  face  to 
face  with  Asia,  unless  she  kept  control  of  the 
Syrian  route,  along  which  Asiatic  invaders  re- 
peatedly found  their  way  into  the  Delta  through 
Thabor,  Jaffa,  and  Gaza.  Therefore,  after  the 
Pharaohs  of  the  XVI I th  dynasty  had  driven 
back  the  invaders  called  Shepherds,  or  Hyksos, 

^  Journal  Asiatigue,  1891,  i,  p.  213,  215. 
5 


66  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


beyond  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  all  their  successors 
of  the  XVIIIth  dynasty  (about  1500  B.C.),  the 
Thothmes  and  the  Amenophis,  occupied  the 
towns  along  the  coast:  Gaza,  Ascalon,  Tyre, 
Sidon,  Arad;  from  there,  they  proceeded  to  the 
gorge  of  Mageddo,  the  key  to  Palestine,  and  to  the 
passes  of  Qodshou,  the  entrance  of  the  valley  of 
the  Orontes  and  of  the  upper  Euphrates. 

The  coast  and  the  nearest  Syrian  plateaux  were 
under  the  direct  influence  of  the  Pharaohs.  On 
the  coast  flourished  already  those  republics  hav- 
ing a  Semitic  language  and  an  oligarchic  consti- 
tution, that  the  Greeks  later  called  Phoenicians; 
the  inland,  especially  Jerusalem  and  Canaan,  was 
occupied  by  other  Semites.  These  were  not  the 
Hebrews  of  Moses's  day:  the  Exodus  had  not 
perhaps  as  yet  been  undertaken;  at  any  rate, 
had  not  been  completed.  The  Hebrews  were  still 
in  Egypt,  where  they  wandered  in  the  deserts  of 
Sinai  and  the  plains  beyond  the  Jordan.  Beyond, 
in  Northern  Asia,  there  extended  up  to  the  Persian 
Gulf  empires  both  of  recent  and  of  ancient  origin : 
the  kingdom  of  Alasia  on  the  lower  Orontes,  the 
kingdom  of  Mitanni  on  the  east  of  the  Euphrates, 
the  kingdom  of  Assur  on  the  middle  Tiger,  the 
kingdom  of  Kardounyash,  which  had  inherited 
the  power  of  Babylon,  on  the  lower  Euphrates. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  67 


It  was  the  petty  princes  of  the  coast  and  the 
upland  as  well  as  the  kings  of  the  surrounding 
states,  who  exchanged  the  letters  discovered  at 
El-Amarna  with  the  Pharaohs,  Amenophis  III 
and  Amenophis  IV.  The  former  were  vassals ;  the 
latter,  allies. 

The  letters'  emanating  from  the  cities  along 
the  Syrian  coast,  from  Palestine  and  the  valley 
of  the  Orontes,  in  a  word,  from  the  Egyptian 
province  of  Syria,  prove  that  the  Pharaohs  were 
not  represented  in  any  of  these  cities,  either  by 
resident  Egyptian  officials,  or  by  a  standing  army. 
At  Tyre,  Sidon,  Byblos,  Jerusalem,  we  find 
adherents  of  the  king"  called  khazani;  their 
cities  belong  to  them;  their  subjects  bow  their 
heads  in  submission  to  them."  These  were  not 
Egyptians.  Their  names  give  evidence  that  they 
were  natives  of  the  country;  often  they  were 
descended  from  families  of  long  standing  in  the 
region;  they  might  bear  the  title  of  kings;  some- 
times the  khazani  were  the  successors  of  the  kings. 
At  any  rate,  the  Egyptian  policy  seems  to  have 
favoured  a  divided  oligarchy,  to  prevent  the 
establishment  among  the  strange  peoples  of  a 

*  Quoted  from  M.  J.  Hal6vy,  Journal  Asiatique,  1890-2,  and 
Revue  Semitique,  1893-4.  I  have  also  made  use  of  the  suggestive 
articles  by  P.  Delattre  {Revue  des  Questions  historiques,  li-lx, 
1892-1896)  and  the  authoritative  Histoire  of  G.  Maspero. 


68  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


monarchy  more  dangerous  in  its  influence.  In 
certain  cities,  Arad  and  Tounipou,  for  instance, 
there  were  neither  kings  nor  khazani,  for  these 
cities  were  Httle  repubHcs:  accordingly,  instead 
of  an  individual  correspondent,  in  such  cases  it 
was  the  council  of  the  Ancients,  the  "children  of 
the  city  of  Tounipou,"  or  the  "inhabitants  of 
the  city  of  Irgeta"  who  sent  missives  direct  to 
Pharaoh.  ^  At  any  rate,  these  places  enjoyed  self- 
government  and  sent  their  applications  to  the 
Egyptian  chancery  without  an  intermediary. 
These  local  powers  expressed  their  subordination 
in  terms  that  are  amusing  because  of  their  ex- 
cessive humility:  "To  the  king,  my  lord,  my 
god,  my  sun,  king  my  lord,  this  is  said :  I,  khazanou 
of  the  city  .  .  .  thy  servant,  dust  of  thy  feet, 
and  ground  on  which  thou  treadest,  the  seat 
of  thy  chair,  stool  for  thy  feet,''  hoof  of  thy 
horses,  I  roll  on  my  stomach  and  on  my  back 
seven  times  in  the  dust,  at  the  feet  of  my 
king,  of  my  lord,  sun  of  heaven."  The  es- 
sential function  of  the  khazani,  their  raison 
d'etre  and  distinguishing  virtue  are  thus  de- 
fined: "I  am  the  servant  of  the  king,  the  dog 

'  Revue  Semitique,  1894,  P-  i^. 

*  Compare  with  the  psalm:  Donee  ponam  inimicos  tuos  scahel- 
lum  pedum  tuorum. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  69 


of  his  house,  I  guard  all  the  country  of  .  .  .  for 
the  king,  my  lord. 

In  ordinary  times,  the  correspondence  may  be 
summed  up  in  a  few  phrases:  the  country  is  quiet, 
the  orders  of  the  king  are  obeyed,  the  tributes  are 
despatched  regularly  to  the  Egyptian  treasury. 
Thus  the  governor  of  Sidon  writes : 

The  king,  my  lord,  is  informed  that  the  city  of 
Sidon,  the  slave  he  has  entrusted  to  me,  is  quiet.  On 
reading  the  order  of  the  king,  my  lord,  my  heart 
leaped  with  joy,  I  raised  my  head;  my  face  and  my 
eyes  were  beaming  when  I  transmitted  to  my  people 
the  order  of  the  king,  my  lord,  .  .  .  thus:  thy  servant 
sends  thee  a  hundred  oxen  and  also  female  slaves. 
News  for  the  king,  my  lord,  sun  of  the  heaven.^ 

Whenever  the  Pharaoh  sent  a  messenger,  a  con- 
voy, or  a  troop  of  archers,  the  khazanou  had  to 
escort  them,  provide  for  their  safety,  and,  ac- 
cording to  the  case,  furnish  their  food  and  main- 
tenance: ''The  king,  my  lord,  sun  of  heaven,  has 
sent  the  messenger  Hamya  to  me;  thus:  I  have 
listened  to  the  order  of  the  king  with  the  greatest 
attention;  I,  with  my  troops  and  my  chariots, 
with  my  brothers  and  my  soldiers,  we  have 
been  to  meet  thy  troops  of  archers  at  the  place 

^  Journal  Asiatique,  1892,  i,  p.  272;  Revue  Semitique,  1894,  P* 
no. 

^  Journal  Asiatique,  1891,  ii,  p.  170, 


70  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


assigned  by  my  king."  When  the  king  himself 
visits  his  Syrian  province,  the  faithful  servant 
has  to  provide  food  for  him  and  his  troops:  "The 
king,  my  lord,  with  his  many  troops,  retiirns 
to  his  lands ;  there  I  have  sent  cattle  and  a  quan- 
tity of  oil  for  the  great  army  of  the  king,  my  lord.  '* 
In  some  impoverished  district  in  the  mountains, 
the  khazanou  might  not  be  able  to  perform  his 
duty  and  furnish  supplies ;  in  such  a  case  he  ex- 
cused himself  humbly:  "May  it  please  the  king, 
my  lord,  to  send  for  the  oil ;  I  have  neither  horses 
nor  carriages  to  meet  the  king,  and  I  have  sent  my 
son  into  the  country  of  the  king,  my  lord."' 

To  supervise  the  perfect  execution  of  his  orders, 
Pharaoh  had  his  messengers,  "the  eyes  and  ears  of 
the  king  in  a  foreign  land,"  to  use  the  language 
of  the  Egyptian  protocol.  They  had  precedence 
of  all  the  native  governors;  they  were,  therefore, 
with  few  exceptions,  Egyptians  and  high  fimc- 
tionaries  of  the  Pharaonic  court.  Their  investi- 
gations were  greatly  feared:  "May  the  king,  my 
lord,  ask  all  his  messengers  how  faithful  a  servant 
of  the  king  I  am ;  may  the  king  ask  such  and  such  a 
one ;  he  will  see  that  it  is  true. "  These  inspectors 
held,  perhaps,  a  permanent  office,  but  they  seem 

^  Revue  Semitique,  1893,  p.  304-314;  Journal  Asiatique,  1892, 
i,  p.  297,  318,  325. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  71 


not  to  have  had  any  fixed  residence.  They  took 
an  active  part  in  difficult  cases,  but  always  were 
obliged  to  refer  these  to  the  Pharaoh. 

Difficult  cases  were  frequent.  After  reading 
these  letters  of  El-Amarna  the  Egyptian  province 
of  Syria  appears  to  us  to  be  cut  up  into  little 
independent  territories,  perpetually  torn  apart 
by  rival  factions.  From  khazani  to  khazani, 
conflicts  incessantly  arose;  but  these  disturbances 
seemed  not  to  displease  the  Pharaoh,  who  found 
in  the  situation  the  secret  of  his  power,  bestowed 
here  favour,  there  meted  out  displeasure,  im- 
posing everywhere  his  will,  as  the  last  resort. 
His  help  was  constantly  applied  for:  here,  against 
highwaymen  pillaging  a  city,  there  against  some 
khazanoM  imseating  his  neighbour,  or  boldly 
seizing  upon  the  territories  of  the  nearest  city: 
*'Take  cognisance,  oh  king,  that  the  robbers  have 
prompted  these  cities  to  rebel  against  me  .  .  .  ; 
I  am  like  a  bird  in  a  cage  or  a  net.  .  .  .  Send  me 
some  archers  of  Egypt. "  The  number  of  defend- 
ers requested  was  not  excessive:  the  governor  of 
Mageddo  asked  to  have  two  arches  sent;  the 
governor  of  Tyre  asked  for  twenty;  the  governor 
of  Byblos  requested  four,  together  with  twenty 
chariots  (Egyptian  chariots  were  at  this  time  the 
most  potent  factor  on  the  battle-field,  and  it  is 


^2  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


from  Egypt  that  the  Homeric  warriors  later 
borrowed  their  chariots) ;  even  in  arduous  cases 
the  number  of  Egyptian  soldiers  needed  did  not 
exceed  two  hundred.^  These  figures  show  that 
the  Pharaoh  did  not  maintain  permanent  garri- 
sons in  Syria.  The  governors  employed  their 
own  troops;  but  they  wanted  Egyptian  soldiers, 
probably  as  instructors  and  to  act  as  a  staff  of 
officers  for  the  native  troops,  much  in  the  same 
way  as  we  organise  our  colonial  armies  at  the 
present  day. 

Among  the  numerous  subjects  considered  in 
the  correspondence  of  El-Amarna  there  are  two 
which  are  intelligible  throughout,  or  nearly  so, 
and  which  afford  us  a  vivid  picture  of  the  policy 
pursued  by  Egypt  in  Syria.  These  affairs  con- 
cern Azirou  and  Arab-Hiba.  The  information 
that  follows  is  derived  from  researches  made  by 
Messrs.  Halevy  and  P.  Delattre. 

In  a  district  of  Northern  Phoenicia,  called  the 
land  of  Amouri,  the  khazanou  Azirou  was  ac- 
cused before  Pharaoh  by  his  colleague  Rabimour, 
from  Byblos.''  Azirou,  in  spite  of  the  protesta- 
tions of  obedience  which  he  sent  to  the  Egyptian 

^  Journal  Asiatique,  1891,  i,  p.  244,  252;  1892,  i,  p.  310. 
2  P.  Delattre,  Azirou,  ap.    Proceedings  of  the  Society  of  Biblical 
ArchcBology,  xiii,  p.  215. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  73 


deputy  Doudou,  was  accused  formally  of  having 
killed  three  kings  of  neighbouring  cities  and  all  the 
elders  of  the  country,  in  order  to  appropriate  their 
territories,  Azirou  cleared  himself  by  writing 
to  the  king  that  he  did  so  only  in  self-defence: 
''The  elders  of  the  city  of  Soumouri  did  not 
leave  me  in  peace,  and  I  have  in  this  case  com- 
mitted no  crime  against  the  king  my  master.'* 
Then  a  man  intervened  in  this  correspondence, 
writing  dryly:  *'In  the  name  of  the  king,  thy 
lord,  to  the  governor  of  the  city  of  Soumouri. 
This  man  was  without  doubt  an  Egyptian  deputy, 
who  communicated  the  Pharaoh's  reply  to  the 
charges  brought  by  Rabimour: 

Surely,  thou  art  not  with  the  king,  thy  lord.  If 
thou  wilt  be  submissive  to  the  king,  what  will  not  the 
king  grant  thee,  as  a  recompense?  But,  if  thou 
wishest  to  act  thus,  rebellion  is  in  thy  heart  and  thou 
shalt  die,  as  well  as  all  thy  family.  Submit  to  the 
king,  thy  lord,  and  thou  shalt  live.  ...  I  say  to  thee: 
leave  the  summit  of  that  mountain  [where  Azirou 
had  taken  refuge]  and  come  to  the  king,  thy  lord;  or 
send  thy  son  to  the  king.  Hast  thou  no  descendant 
who  might  go?  Know  that  the  king  is  as  powerful  as 
the  sun  in  heaven,  and  that  his  troops  and  chariots 
are  numerous  in  the  upper  country  and  in  the  lower 
country,  from  the  east  to  the  west.  .  . 

Summoned  to  give  an  account  of  himself  at 

^  C/.  J.  Hal^vy,  Journal  Asiatique,  1891,  ii,  p.  176. 


74  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


the  Egyptian  court,  Azirou  did  not  dare  to  refuse 
outright :  he  accordingly  wrote  to  different  people, 
to  the  deputies  Doudou  and  Khai,  and  to  Pharaoh 
himself,  that  he  would  start  with  his  son,  that 
he  is  starting,  that  he  has  started  .  .  .  but  he 
stayed.  At  the  same  time  that  he  announced 
his  departure,  he  mentioned  an  attack  of  the  king 
of  the  Kheta  against  the  city  of  Tounipou:  who 
would  defend  this  city  if  he,  Azirou,  did  not  stay 
at  his  post? 

"My  son  and  I  are  good  servants  of  the  king; 
then  we  shall  start  immediately  .  .  .  ;  may  my 
master  know  that  I  obey.  But  the  king  has 
ordered  me  to  defend  his  territory,  and  now  the 
king  of  the  Kheta  is  in  the  country  of  Noukhassi, 
in  the  city  of  Tounipou,  ...  I  fear  for  the  terri- 
tory of  my  master. " 

Did  Azirou  go  to  Egypt?  The  records  stop 
just  at  this  critical  moment.  Judging  from  what 
precedes,  Azirou  probably  managed  to  avoid 
appearing  in  person,  or  sending  his  son,  as  a 
hostage,  to  Pharaoh. 

The  second  affair,  concerning  Arad-Hiba,  is 
more  intricate  still;  it  has  to  do  with  personal 
frictions  between  officials,  and  raises  a  rather  deli- 
cate question  of  diplomatic  immunity.'  Arad- 

*  J.  Hal6vy.  Un  gouverneur  de  Jerusalem  vers  la  fin  dn  xv^  silcle 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  75 


Hiba  was  a  governor  of  Jerusalem.  The  name  of 
Israel  does  not  appear  anywhere  in  his  letters; 
the  first  mention  of  this  name  that  we  know  of 
is  on  an  Egyptian  stela  of  Pharaoh  Merneptah 
(about  1250  B.C.),  who  boasts  of  having  destroyed 
Israel  in  Syria,  at  a  time  when,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, the  Israelites  were  still  in  Egypt.  Neverthe- 
less, Arad-Hiba,  as  is  evidenced  by  his  name,  was 
a  Semite.  He  was  opposed  in  his  government 
by  Milkili  and  Shumardata,  native  agents  of  the 
Egyptian  court.  These  men  accused  him  of 
having  participated  with  certain  robber  bands, 
acting  under  the  instigation  of  the  king  of  Babylon, 
Bournabouryash,  in  the  pillage  of  Palestine. 
Now,  if  these  mercenaries  of  the  Babylonian 
king  broke  the  alliance  of  their  master  with  the 
king  of  Egypt,  it  was  because  Bournabouryash 
had  been  seriously  offended.  He  explained,  in  a 
letter  addressed  to  Amenophis  IV,  that  he  had 
sent  an  embassy  laden  with  presents  to  Egypt: 

My  agents,  who  had  so  far  travelled  in  safety,  were 
stopped  suddenly  and  met  with  violent  death,  in 
Palestine.  They  had  left  me,  thy  good  brother,  to 
go  to  thee,  when,  upon  their  arrival  in  the  city  of 
Acre,  those  who  escorted  them  (sent  by  the  Pharaoh) 
killed  my  messengers  and  took  possession  of  the 

av  J.  C,  ap.  Revue  Semitique,  1893,  p.  13.  Cf.  Journal  Asiatique, 
1891,  ii,  p.  514. 


76  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


presents.  ...  It  is  Shumardata  who  cut  off  the 
feet  of  my  men  and  pulled  out  their  fingers;  as  for 
the  other,  he  encouraged  the  aggressor  to  stamp  on 
their  heads.  .  .  .  Question  these  men,  make  investi- 
gations, gather  information,  and  thou  wilt  hear  the 
truth.  The  country  of  Palestine  is  thy  country,  and 
its  kings  are  thy  vassals;  it  is  in  thy  country  that 
damage  has  been  done  to  me;  make  inquiry,  have 
restored  the  gold  that  has  been  taken,  have  put  to 
death  those  who  have  killed  my  men,  and  let  the 
blood  which  they  have  shed  flow  back  upon  them. 
If  thou  dost  not  put  these  people  to  death,  my  gen- 
erals shall  go  and  kill  all  the  men  and  messengers,  so 
that  henceforth  all  friendship  between  us  shall  cease, 
and  their  soldiers  shall  treat  thee  as  an  enemy.' 

These  threats  were  carried  out.  Shumardata, 
however,  accused  Arad-Hiba  of  favouring  the 
devices  of  the  Babylonians,  and  the  question  of 
the  murder  of  messengers  was  lost  sight  of  as  the 
personal  rivalry  of  the  agents  of  the  Egyptian 
king  came  to  the  fore.  Arad-Hiba  sends  to  the 
king  vehement  protestations: 

*'Who  has  cast  doubt  upon  my  actions  by 
slandering  me  before  the  king,  my  lord,  saying: 
'Arad-Hiba  has  betrayed  his  lord '  ?  Behold :  it  is 
neither  my  father's  nor  my  mother's  people  who 
have  secured  this  place  for  me ;  it  is  the  arm  of  the 
powerful  king  that  has  enabled  me  to  enter  the 

^  Journal  Asiatique,  1899,  ii,  p.  325. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  77 


house  of  my  father.  Why  should  I  be  guilty  of 
infidelity  and  disloyalty  to  the  king?"' 

Arad-Hiba  would  have  liked  to  justify  himself, 
personally:  "I  said  to  myself:  I  shall  go  to  the 
king,  and  I  shall  see  the  cities  of  the  king,  but  I 
have  a  strong  enemy  opposed  to  me,  and  I  cannot 
come  before  the  king." 

But,  desirous  of  leaving  nothing  untried  in 
order  to  attain  his  end,  he  added  to  three  of  his 
despatches  a  postscript  addressed  to  the  scribe 
of  the  king: 

"To  the  scribe  of  my  lord,  the  king,  this  is  said: 
I,  Arad-Hiba,  thy  servant,  I  throw  myself  at 
the  feet  of  my  lord.  I  am  thy  servant.  Speak 
favotirably  of  me  to  my  lord,  the  king.  I  am  the 
servant  of  the  king  and  also  thine. " 

It  is  evident  that  as  far  back  as  the  XVIIIth 
dynasty,  the  approbation  of  an  influential  office- 
holder was  instrumental  in  bringing  about  a  happy 
issue  of  affairs.  The  word  of  commendation  was, 
however,  in  this  case  of  no  avail.  It  seems  that 
Amenophis  IV  paid  heed  rather  to  Shumardata 
and  Milkili  and  ordered  them  to  subdue  Arad- 
Hiba.  For  a  long  time,  Palestine  was  devastated 
by  robbers  and  mercenary  troops,  paid  by  the 

^  Journal  Asiatique,  1891,  ii,  p.  519. 
^Ihid.,  1891,  ii,  p.  524,  527,  529. 


78  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


rival  governors.  Arad-Hiba  left  Jerusalem  to 
make  war  in  Palestine  and  delivered  his  office 
into  the  hands  of  a  lady,  Belitneshi,  who  wrote 
twice  in  his  favour  to  the  Pharaoh.'  It  is  not 
known  how  the  struggle  ended.  Bournabouryash 
and  Amenophis  IV  were  reconciled;  as  for  Arad- 
Hiba,  in  all  probability  he  finally  succumbed  in 
the  conflict  of  rival  ambitions 

In  the  course  of  these  disturbances,  which 
transformed  the  rich  province  of  Syria  into  a 
battle-field,  the  Pharaohs  often  showed  an  indif- 
ference that  would  appear  inexplicable,  had  it  not 
been  intentional.  We  know  from  the  lamenta- 
tions of  their  vassals,  that  their  replies  to  denuncia- 
tions or  complaints  were  slow  in  coming  if  they 
came  at  all.  Read  this  letter  from  the  little 
republic  of  Tounipou,  expressing  doubt  whether 
the  Pharaoh  is  its  protector  or  not : 

The  city  of  Tounipou,  thy  servant,  asks:  Who 
was  it  that  formerly  showed  favour  to  the  city  of 
Tounipou?  Was  it  not  Amen6phis  III,  who  honoured 
her?  Since  then,  the  gods  and  the  statue  of  the  king 
of  Egypt,  our  lord,  have  remained  in  the  city  of 
Tounipou.  Our  lord  may  refer  to  the  archives  of  the 
time,  if  there  is  any  doubt  about  our  belonging  to  our 
lord,  the  king  of  Egypt?  .  .  .  We  have  already  sent 
twenty  letters  to  the  king,  our  lord,  and  our  messen- 

*  Journal  Asiatique,  1892,  i,  p.  302-304. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy         .  79 

gers  have  stayed  with  our  lord.  .  .  .  Now  the  city  of 
Tounipou,  thy  city,  weeps,  its  tears  flow,  and  there 
is  nobody  to  help  us.  .  .  .  We  have  already  sent 
twenty  letters  to  the  king  of  Egypt,  and  not  a  single 
reply  has  come  to  us  from  our  lord.  ^ 

More  than  a  hundred  such  letters  exist  among 
the  records  of  El-Amarna.  Shall  we  accuse  the 
Foreign  Office  of  Egypt  of  inveterate  negligence? 
It  seems  more  just  to  admit  that  the  oriental 
policy  of  procrastination,  of  prudence,  of  studied 
inertia,  was  already  in  favour  in  the  Pharaonic 
diplomacy!  The  king  of  Egypt  probably  knew 
how  to  apportion  his  efforts  according  to  the 
importance  of  the  case  in  dispute;  in  many 
instances,  to  gain  time,  to  let  things  run  their 
course,  and  to  wait  until  the  decisive  moment 
for  interfering  arrived,  was  the  best  means  for 
putting  an  end  to  the  petty  strife  that  had  become 
almost  chronic  in  the  protectorate  country. 
Besides,  intestine  discords  w^ere  necessary  for 
the  maintenance  of  a  foreign  hegemony:  to 
create  division  among  his  subjects  in  order  to 
keep  any  faction  from  becoming  too  powerful,  this 
policy  successfully  pursued  accounts  for  the  powder 
of  the  Pharaoh  in  a  country  where  he  deigned 
to  leave  the  images  of  his  gods  and  of  his  own 

^  Revue  Semitique,  1894,  P-  16. 


8o  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


divine  personage,'  but  where  he  kept  no  longer 
any  garrisons,  where  he  had  only  a  body  of 
diplomats  and  a  staff  of  officers. 

In  dealing  with  the  great  kingdoms  of  the 
Taurus  and  the  Euphrates:  Alasia,  Mitanni, 
Assyria,  Kardouniash  (Babylon)  a  different  me- 
thod of  procedure  was  in  force.  The  aim  of  the 
Pharaohs  was  to  form  all  around  their  Syrian 
provinces  a  border  of  buffer-states,  in  order  to 
check  the  collisions  between  the  restless  popula- 
tions of  Asia  Minor,  the  most  threatening  of 
which  were  the  Kheta,  and  the  populations  of 
Canaan.  This  role  of  buffer-states  could  be 
filled  by  the  old  kingdoms  of  Assur  and  of  Babylon, 
fallen  from  their  former  splendour,  but  still 
mighty  and  influential,  and  also  by  the  new 
barbarian  kingdoms,  like  Alasia  and  Mitanni, 
ruled  by  upstarts  whom  the  Pharaoh  some- 
times raised  to  the  dignity  of  allies. 

But  here,  the  relationship  was  no  longer  that 
existing  between  a  sovereign  and  his  vassals: 
the  Pharaoh  allowed  himself  to  be  treated  as  an 
equal  by  each  of  these  barbarians. 

"To  the  king  of  Egypt,  my  brother,  be  it  said: 
I,  the  king  of  Alasia,  thy  brother,  am  well,  and 

'  Revue  Semitique,  1893,  p.  316. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  8i 


may  it  be  well  with  thee,  with  thy  kinship,  thy 
house,  thy  children,  thy  wives;  I  heartily  con- 
gratulate thee  upon  the  number  of  chariots  and 
horses  thou  hast  and  send  my  good  wishes  for 
thy  country  of  Egypt. "  ^ 

The  king  of  Assyria,  of  whom  one  letter  only 
has  been  preserved,  wrote  more  dryly: 

"To  Amenophis  IV,  my  brother,  be  it  said: 
Assourouballit,  King  of  Assyria,  the  prince, 
thy  brother:  Peace  to  thee,  thy  kin,  thy 
country."^ 

The  tone  is  more  affectionate  when  the  sove- 
reigns are  relatives: 

"To  Amenophis  III,  great  king  of  the  country 
of  Egypt,  my  brother,  my  son-in-law,  who  loves 
me  and  whom  I  love,  be  it  said: — I,  Dushratta, 
the  great  king  of  the  country  of  Mitanni,  thy 
brother,  thy  father-in-law,  who  loves  thee,  I  am 
well,  and  I  send  my  greetings  to  thee,  my  brother 
and  son-in-law  to  thy  kin,  thy  wives,  thy  sons, 
thy  chief  men. 

In  his  turn,  Amenophis  III,  writing  to  the  king 
of  Kardounyash,  expresses  himself  in  exactly 
the  same  terms. We  may  infer  from  these 
extracts  that  a  diplomatic  protocol  prevailed 

^  Journal  Asiatique,  1890,  ii,  p.  335.  Ibid.,  p.  331. 

3  Ibid.,  1890,  ii,  p.  348.  ^  Revue  Semitigue,  1893,  p.  49. 

6 


82  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


already  at  that  time  and  that  the  exchanged 
correspondence  was  shaped  in  accordance  with 
an  estabhshed  epistolary  formula  that  admitted 
of  little  latitude  in  the  expression  of  mutual 
regard. 

After  the  exchange  of  the  usual  salutations,  the 
sovereigns  informed  each  other  of  the  state  of 
their  health.  A  letter  from  Bournabouryash  to 
Amenophis  IV  shows  in  this  respect  a  susceptibil- 
ity, rather  amusing: 

Since  the  day  when  the  messenger  of  my  brother 
came,  I  have  not  been  well.  During  my  ailment,  my 
brother  did  not  comfort  me.  I  felt  angry  with  my 
brother,  saying:  "Has  my  brother  not  heard  that  I 
am  ill?  Why  does  he  not  send  his  messenger,  and 
why  does  he  not  interest  himself  in  me?"  The  mes- 
senger of  my  brother  replied:  "Thy  country  is  not 
near  enough  for  thy  brother  to  have  known  about  thy 
illness,  and  to  have  sent  a  messenger  to  learn  news 
about  thee."  .  .  .  Indeed,  when  I  thereupon  asked 
my  own  messenger,  he  said  to  me:  "It  is  a  very 
long  journey."  Since  then,  I  have  been  no  more 
angry  with  my  brother.  .  . 

Dushratta,  the  king  of  Mitanni,  gives  expression 
to  violent  grief  when  he  hears  of  the  death  of 
Amenophis  III,  and  he  writes  to  the  new  king 
thus: 

*  Journal  Asiatigue,  1890,  ii,  p.  321. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  83 


''When  thy  father  was  about  to  die,  .  .  .  that 
day,  I  wept,  and  I  became  quite  ill,  and  was 
ready  to  die  .  .  .  [but  I  knew  the  accession]  of 
the  eldest  son  of  Amenophis  and  of  Tii  .  .  .  and 
I  said:  'Amenophis  is  not  dead.'  .  .  ."^  This 
letter  is  badly  mutilated,  but  these  tokens  of 
keen  sympathy  survive  in  its  fragments. 

After  the  exchange  of  compliments  serious 
affairs  were  dealt  with:  political  alliances,  matri- 
monial negotiations,  international  trading.  From 
the  time  when  Thothmes  III  conquered  the  land 
of  Canaan,  the  Egyptian  court  tried  to  make 
these  conquests  enduring  by  means  of  alliances. 
Amendphis  IV  is  reminded  of  this  policy  by  each 
of  his  correspondents,  as  soon  as  he  ascends  the 
throne : 

"My  king,  now  that  thou  hast  ascended  the 
throne  of  thy  father,  let  us  establish  between  us 
the  same  relation  of  amity  that  existed  between 
thy  father  and  myself,  who  were  agreed  to  ex- 
change presents.  And  this  my  vow,  that  I  made 
to  thy  father,  accept  it  and  let  us  make  it  mutually 
binding."^ 

It  was  indispensable  for  the  security  of  the 
Pharaoh  in  Syria  that  the  rebellious  cities, 
negligible  if  unaided  from  without,  should  find  no 

*  Journal  Asiatique,  p.  423.  ^  Jijid^^  p.  344, 


84  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


support  in  Babylon  or  in  Nineveh.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  the  Pharaoh  favoured  some  of  his  neigh- 
bours by  making  an  alHance  with  them,  it  was 
tantamount  to  raising  them  above  their  rivals 
and  assuring  their  power  in  Asia.  The  reciprocal 
interest,  that  the  Egyptian  and  the  Babylonian 
kings  found  in  such  a  policy,  is  shown  very  clearly 
in  a  letter  from  Bournabouryash,  reproaching 
Amendphis  IV  for  his  indifference: 

In  the  time  of  my  father  Kourigalzou,  a  king  of 
Canaan  sent  him  a  message :  ' '  Let  us  enter  the  city 
of  Karmishat,  let  us  march  against  Pharaoh  to- 
gether." My  father  sent  in  reply  this  message: 
"Renounce  any  understanding  with  me;  if  thou  wilt 
treat  the  king  of  Egypt  as  an  enemy,  look  for  another 
ally;  I  shall  not  go,  I  shall  not  plunder  his  country, 
for  he  is  my  ally."  It  is  thus  that  my  father,  on 
account  of  his  love  of  thine,  refused  to  listen  to  him.^ 

This  said,  Bournabouryash  takes  up  the  subject 
that  lies  near  his  heart: 

To-day,  the  Assyrian  king  is  my  vassal;  I 
do  not  need  to  tell  thee  why  he  came  to  solicit  thy 
friendship ;  if  thou  lovest  me,  let  no  treaty  be 
made  [between  you] ;  drive  him  far  away.  '* 

But  the  interest  of  the  Pharaoh  was  to  keep  an 
equal  balance  among  all  the  other  kings;  a  letter 

^  Journal  Asiatique,  p.  328. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  85 


from  the  king  of  Assyria  informs  us  that  Egyptian 
messengers  were  sent  to  him  and  that  the  same 
traditional  alliance  still  existed  between  Thebes 
and  Nineveh,  as  between  Thebes  and  Babylon.* 
Ties  of  blood  were  necessary  to  maintain  and 
facilitate  diplomatic  relationships;  matrimonial 
negotiations  were,  as  in  our  day,  one  of  the  im- 
portant tasks  entrusted  to  the  Asiatic  or  Egyptian 
ambassadors.  We  have  full  information  regard- 
ing their  dealings  with  the  kings  of  Mitanni 
and  of  Babylon,  concerning  such  matrimonial 
alliances. 

We  see,  from  the  letters  of  Dushratta,  king 
of  Mitanni,  with  what  persistence  the  Pharaohs 
tried  to  obtain  the  hand  of  the  barbarian 
princesses  whose  presence  in  the  Theban  harem 
insured  the  fidelity  of  their  fathers  to  Egyptian 
politics.  Sitatama,  grandfather  of  Dushratta, 
did  not  dispose  of  the  hand  of  his  daughter  until 
seven  messages  had  been  sent  by  Thothmes  IV; 
Amendphis  III  had  to  ask  six  times  for  the  sister  of 
Dushratta,  and  when  the  latter  was  asked  to  give 

^  None  of  these  treaties  of  alliance  have  come  down  to  us,  but 
the  walls  of  the  Theban  temples  have  preserved  the  copy  of  a 
treaty  made,  a  century  later,  between  Ramses  II  and  the  king 
of  the  Kheta.  The  original  was  engraved  on  a  silver  tablet  and 
faithfully  reproduced  the  clauses  of  a  former  treaty.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  contracts  of  the  same  form  were  exchanged  even  from 
the  time  of  the  Amenophis. 


86  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


his  own  daughter,  Tadouhipa,  to  Amen6phis  IV, 
he  gave  proof  of  a  most  unusual  goodwill  in 
replying  immediately:  "I  give  my  daughter  to 
thee."  This  is  how  the  negotiation  was  con- 
ducted.' Amenophis  IV,  then  merely  a  royal 
prince,  sent  an  ambassador  extraordinary,  named 
Mane,  laden  with  presents  and  with  a  letter  from 
Amen6phis  III,  thus  worded: 

"What  I  send  thee  at  present  is  nothing,  .  .  . 
but  if  thou  grantest  me  the  wife  whom  I  desire, 
the  presents  will  come  [in  plenty]." 

Dushratta's  messengers  were  shown  a  heap  of 
gold,  countless  presents  intended  for  the  father 
of  the  future  queen.  Dushratta  received  the 
Egyptian  ambassador  and,  having  accepted  the 
presents,  sent  this  word  to  the  royal  suitor: 

"A  strong  friendship  united  thy  father  and  me; 
now  I  shall  have  still  more  affection  for  thee,  my 
son."^  This  magnanimity  did  not  hinder  Dush- 
ratta from  protesting  bitterly  later  on  that  he  had 
been  defrauded  of  a  part  of  the  presents  promised, 
which  were  never  delivered. 

The  negotiation  of  matrimonia  affairs  with  the 
Babylonian  court  was  occasionally  beset  with 

'  Journal  Asiatique,  p.  421.    Cf.  Revue  Semitique,  1893,  p.  124, 
and  Zeitschrift  fiir  cegyptische  Sprache,  1890,  p.  114. 
» Ibid.,  p.  408-409. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  87 


difficulties.  Amenophis  III  married  the  sister 
of  Kallima-Sin,  king  of  Kardounyash ;  a  few  years 
later  he  claimed,  as  a  new  wife,  the  daughter  of 
Kallima-Sin.  The  latter  refused.  His  objection 
to  the  match  was  not  influenced  by  the  thought 
that  his  daughter,  Zouharti,  would  find  her  own 
aunt  among  the  number  of  her  rivals,  but  was 
based  on  the  fact  that,  since  his  sister  had  entered 
the  harem  of  the  Pharaoh,  none  of  the  Babylonian 
messengers  had  ever  seen  her,  or  had  heard  any 
news  about  her.  What  does  Pharaoh  do  with 
his  foreign  wives?  Before  giving  up  his  daughter, 
Kallima-Sin  would  like  to  be  informed.  The 
incident  was  doubtless  thought  to  be  of  some  con- 
sequence, for  Amenophis  III  gives  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  circumstances  in  the  only  letter  of 
his  that  has  been  preserved.^ 

*'I  have  knowledge,"  he  writes  to  Kallima-Sin, 
"of  the  word  thou  didst  address  to  me:  'How 
canst  thou  ask  for  my  daughter  in  marriage  while 
my  sister,  whom  my  father  gave  thee,  is  in  thy 
keeping,  though  no  one  has  seen  her;  tell  me,  is 
she  living  or  is  she  dead?'" 

It  is  not  known  whether  anything  happened  to 
the  Babylonian  princess  or  not;  Amenophis  re- 
plied only  in  vague  terms;  he  quoted  other  com- 

^  Revue  Semitique,  1893,  p.  49. 


88  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


plaints  addressed  to  him  by  his  correspondent. 
KalHma-Sin  had  related  how,  one  day,  his  mes- 
senger had  been  led  into  the  harem,  when  all 
Pharaoh's  wives  were  assembled,  and  had  been 
told :  * '  Here  is  thy  lady  before  thee. ' '  The  messen- 
ger did  not  recognise  her  and  could  not  find  out 
which  of  these  wives  was  the  sister  of  his  king. 
Regarding  that,  Pharaoh  replied  to  KalHma-Sin: 
''Thou  didst  not  send  a  noble  man,  one  who, 
having  known  thy  sister  [formerly]  and  having 
talked  to  her  would  have  been  able  to  recognise 
her  and  carry  on  a  conversation  with  her.  The 
messengers  whom  thou  sendest  are  men  of  low 
condition;  for  example,  Zargara  is  a  common 
drover  of  cattle ;  there  is  not  one  [of  thy  messengers] 
who  ever  approached  thy  father." 
But  Kallima-Sin  replies: 

"It  might  have  been  any  noble  girl  my  mes- 
sengers saw  at  thy  house;  the  question  is,  who 
could  assure  them  [it  was  my  sister]" 

Then,  another  reply  from  Pharaoh: 

"If  thy  sister  had  died,  what  would  have  been 
the  object  in  withholding  the  truth  from  thee?" 

The  scene  is  very  odd,  and  can  be  explained 
without  recourse  to  the  theory  that  a  crime  was 
committed;  the  boor,  promoted  to  the  rank  of  an 
ambassador  by  Kallima-Sin,  may  have  been,  upon 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  89 


entering  the  harem  of  Pharaoh,  so  abashed  that 
he  lost  the  power  of  sizing  up  beings  and  things. 
We  may  imagine  that  he  made  a  sad  figure, 
this  poor  Asiatic  fellow,  ill  clad  and  without 
manners,  when  he  found  himself  suddenly,  amid 
a  hum  of  voices,  in  the  presence  of  an  ironic 
Pharaoh  and  a  hundred  laughing,  mocking  queens, 
sparkling  with  jewels,  and  bare  beneath  their 
transparent  veils.  A  passage  from  the  Aven- 
tures  de  Sinouhit  ^  affords  us  a  glimpse  of  what 
may  well  have  happened: 

Sinouhit,  the  hero  of  this  tale,  lived  for  a  long 
time  exiled  in  Asia ;  recalled  by  royal  clemency,  he 
was  taken  before  Pharaoh,  in  the  presence  of  the 
queens  and  of  the  court.  Sinouhit  felt  his  legs 
quiver  beneath  him  and  lost  consciousness,  when 
the  King  said  to  the  Queen:  ''There  is  Sinouhit 
returning,  rigged  out  like  an  Asiatic!"  Where- 
upon the  Queen  burst  out  laughing,  and  all  the 
royal  children  joined  in  the  laugh.  Now,  Sinouhit 
was  a  great  Egyptian  lord;  how  much  more 
ridiculous  in  appearance  must  have  been  the 
messenger  of  Kallima-Sin? 

The  solicitude  of  the  Babylonian  king  is  certainly 
touching.    It  may  not  have  been  a  very  enviable 

^  A  tale  of  the  Xllth  dynasty.  Cf.  Maspero,  Les  Contes  popu- 
laires  de  VEgypt  ancienne,  3d  edition,  p.  78. 


90  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


lot,  that  which  awaited  these  princesses,  trans- 
planted from  barbarian  courts,  from  the  countries 
of  Mitanni,  or  of  the  Kheta,  or  even  from  the 
refined  court  of  Babylon,  into  this  Egyptian 
society,  where  manners,  habits,  speech,  ideas  were 
so  different !  In  truth,  the  future  queens  took  with 
them  a  retinue  of  women  and  servants,  several 
hundreds  sometimes,'  who  composed  their  own 
"house"  or  "chapel,"  and  occupied  much  the 
same  position  as  did  the  Florentines  who  accom- 
panied to  France  the  princesses  of  the  Medicis 
family,  or  the  Frenchmen  who  escorted  Queen 
Henrietta  to  London.  Sometimes  even,  the  El- 
Amarna  letters  inform  us,  a  statue  of  Our-Lady- 
Ishtar-Astarte  was  sent  from  Asia  to  comfort 
them.  ^  But,  at  the  end  of  a  few  months,  the 
good  goddess  ret  turned  to  her  native  country,  and 
with  her  departure  was  severed  the  last  link  bind- 
ing the  queens  to  the  days  of  their  childhood. 

Another  point  is  made  manifest  to  us  by  these 
letters.  The  Pharaohs  did  not  reciprocate  will- 
ingly, but  generally  refused  their  daughters  or 
their  sisters  to  their  Asiatic  allies.    The  daughters 

^  A  legend  engraved  on  an  Egyptian  scarab  tells  us  that  317 
women  accompanied  to  Egypt  the  princess  Kilagipa  of  Mitanni, 
who  was  to  be  married  to  Amendphis  III.  Cf.  Zeitschrift  fiir 
agyptische  Sprache,  1880,  p.  81;  1890,  p.  112. 

^  Revue  Semitique,  1893,  p.  124. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  91 


of  the  "divine  blood"  were  not  for  these  rough 
soldiers;  the  Egyptian  Marie-Louises  were  not 
to  be  given  up  to  the  Napoleons  of  Mitanni  or 
of  Kardounyash!  Indignant  at  this  attitude  a 
king  of  Babylon  makes  a  haughty  reply: 

When  I  asked  for  thy  daughter's  hand,  thou  hast 
replied  to  me  saying:  "The  daughter  of  the  king 
of  Egypt  has  never  been  given  to  anybody.  .  .  ." 
When  these, words  were  brought  to  me,  I  sent  the  fol- 
lowing reply :  "If  thou  sendest  her  to  me  unwillingly, 
I  prefer  that  thou  dost  not  send  her  at  all.  Thou 
dost  not  show  me  the  kindness  of  a  brother.  When 
thou  madest  known  to  me  thy  intention  of  consolidat- 
ing our  alliance  by  a  marriage,  I  replied  with  all  the 
kindness  of  a  brother  .  .  .  and  now,  my  brother 
when  I  express  the  desire  of  cementing  our  relation 
by  marriage,  why  dost  thou  refuse  me  thy  daughter? 
Why  dost  thou  not  give  her  to  me?  If  I  had  refused 
thee  anything,  there  would  be  some  explanation  for 
thy  conduct,  but  my  daughters  were  at  thy  disposal; 
I  refused  thee  nothing.^ 

The  Pharaohs,  on  the  other  hand,  understood 
how  to  come  to  terms  with  their  Asiatic  allies. 
If  they  refused  to  send  them  wives,  they  sent 
them  gold;  this  was  the  secret  of  their  invincible 
influence,  and  the  balm  for  all  humiliation. 

Send  me  gold,  ...  I  am  going  to  send  for  thy 
gold ;  .  .  .  formerly  thy  father  sent  to  my  father 

»  Journal  Asiatigue,  1890,  ii,  p.  310. 


92  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


much  gold.  .  .  .  Thou  shouldst  send  me  the 
same  quantity  of  gold  that  thy  father  sent.  .  .  . " ' 
Demands  of  that  kind  repeatedly  occur  in  the 
El-Amarna  letters;  there  is  perhaps  not  a  single 
one  in  which  is  not  expressed  this  desire  for  gold, 
which  was  paid  out  unstintingly  by  the  Pharaohs 
and  was  greedily  pocketed  by  the  covetous  Asia- 
tics. The  Pharaohs  indeed  were  extremely  rich; 
Abyssinia,  the  mines  of  Etbaye  and  Sinai  supplied 
them  profusely  with  washed  gold,  native  gold,  and 
precious  stones;  and  there  was  a  proverb,  often 
alluded  to  by  the  kings  of  Asia,  that  "in  Egypt, 
Pharaoh  has  gold  as  plentiful  as  dust,  in  lavish 
supply"  .  .  .  "the  dust  of  roads  is  in  that 
country  pure  gold.  .  .  ."^ 

It  was  not  only  avarice  that  urged  the  Asiatic 
allies  to  ask  for  gold:  they  demanded  it  on  the 
ground  that  the  payments  were  provided  for  in 
the  treaties  of  commerce  duly  attached  to  the 
treaties  confirmed  by  blood  alliance.  All  these 
Semitic  kings  appear  to  be  cunning  merchants, 
clever  manufacturers,  who  encouraged,  as  best 
they  could,  the  working  of  metals,  already  flour- 
ishing in  their  countries.    In  the  bas-reliefs  of 

^  Journal  Asiatigue,  p.  311,  317,  322,  328,  341.  Cf.  Revue 
Semitique,  1893,  p,  121. 

^Ihid.,  1890,  ii,  p.  331,  353,  425. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  93 


Egyptian  temples,  or  in  the  paintings  of  the  The- 
ban  tombs,  we  can  see,  in  the  hands  of  tribute- 
bearers,  the  curious  products  of  the  Syrian  and 
Chaldean  craftsmen:  vessels  of  gold,  silver,  or 
bronze ;  vases  for  the  table,  decorated  with  flowers 
or  animals  borrowed  from  the  Asiatic  surroundings ; 
elaborately  chiselled  weapons;  elephants'  teeth; 
furniture;  stuffs;  jewels  of  finest  workmanship. 
But  it  seems  that  the  raw  materials  of  the 
finest  quality  had  to  be  imported  for  use  in  this 
industry:  Egypt  alone  could  furnish  them,  and 
cheaply,  provided  Pharaoh  was  willing.  There- 
fore, every  good  service  rendered  to  him  in  politi- 
cal matters  was  appraised  at  its  proper  value  and 
was  paid  for  in  precious  metal;  Pharaoh's  allies 
were  determined  to  claim  their  due  and  not  to  be 
deceived  in  the  quality  of  the  goods  received. 
Numerous  are  the  claims  of  that  kind: 

"The  messenger  whom  you  sent,"  writes 
Bournabouryash  to  Amenophis  IV,  "brought 
twenty  minas  of  imperfect  gold  which,  put  in  the 
melting-pot,  did  not  yield  so  much  as  five  minas 
of  pure  gold  .  .  .";or:  "The  wedges  of  gold, 
that  my  brother  had  not  examined,  when  I  sent 
them  to  the  melting-pot  to  be  melted,  were  not 
accepted,  but  sent  back  tome.  .  .  ."^ 

*  Journ.Asiatique,  p.  428,  and  1891,  i,  p.  202.    According  to  the 


94  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


It  must  be  added  that  the  Asiatic  kings  knew 
how  to  give  as  well  as  to  receive  presents,  and  their 
letters  often  announce  the  sending  of  weapons, 
ivory,  and  jewels.  From  this  point  of  view,  the  lists 
of  articles  forming  the  dowry  of  the  princesses 
of  Mitanni  and  of  Babylon  are  very  significant : 
hundreds  of  lines  are  required  for  the  enumeration 
of  the  necklaces,  rings,  bracelets,  ornaments  of  all 
kinds,  furniture,  linen,  and  stuffs  that  were  sent  to 
Egypt  by  caravans,  too  often  plundered  on  the 
way.  To  determine  exactly  what  all  these  ob- 
jects were  and  the  material  they  were  made  of  is 
unfortunately  not  possible,  in  the  present  state  of 
oriental  philology.  Those  passages,  however,  that 
lend  themselves  to  interpretation  are  sufficient  to 
give  a  satisfactory  idea  of  Asiatic  industry  at 
that  time;  it  seems  then  quite  natural  that  the 
treaty  between  Ramses  II  and  the  Kheta  should 
include  a  clause  relative  to  the  artistic  crafts: 
the  exalted  parties  to  the  contract  mutually 
agreeing  not  to  entice  away  the  artisans  belonging 
to  the  other  or  to  attempt  to  extort  the  secrets  of 
their  industry. 


Assyriologist,  Father  Delattre,  several  kings  in  Asia  sent  to 
Egypt  for  ore  that  was  transformed,  in  their  countries,  into  works 
of  art.  These  works  of  art  were  in  turn,  upon  payment  of  a  com- 
mission, returned  to  Pharaoh. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  95 


It  is  due  to  this  diplomacy,  which  to  secure 
its  ends  resorted  to  poHtical  negotiations,  matri- 
monial alliances,  and  business  transactions,  that 
the  Pharaohs  were  able  to  maintain  for  one  hund- 
red and  fifty  years  —  until  the  inroad  of  a  for- 
midable migratory  horde — the  protectorate  of 
Syria,  without  the  burden  of  an  administrative 
machinery  brought  from  Egypt,  and  without 
necessitating  a  military  occupation.  However 
mutilated  may  be  the  letters  of  El-Amama,  they 
furnish  the  proof  that  diplomacy  does  not  date 
from  the  sixteenth  century,  as  we  are  told  with 
too  much  assurance  by  modem  historians.  The 
more  secrets  antiquity,  and  especially  the  anti- 
quity of  the  East,  discloses,  the  more  shall  we 
recognise  that  human  ideas  and  customs  are  as 
old  as  the  material  world,  and  that  every  innova- 
tion is  scarcely  more  than  a  renovation. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  the  Machiavels, 
Talleyrands,  and  Metternichs  who  were  respon- 
sible for  the  policy  of  the  Egyptian  Foreign  Office ; 
but  few  names  have  come  down  to  us  from  the 
ancient  history  of  the  East;  what  the  documents 
reveal  is  rather  the  collective  work  of  generations. 
Yet,  to  make  up  for  official  records,  we  have 
popular  literature:  the  tales  of  ancient  Egypt 
prove  that  there  were  in  that  country  as  every- 


96  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


where  in  the  world,  great  intriguers,  diplomats  in 
the  guise  of  adventurers  to  whom  the  delicate 
and  perilous^  negotiations,  from  which  proceed 
love  or  hatred,  peace  or  war,  prosperity  or  eco- 
nomic decadence,  assured  glory  and  renown. 

In  this  light  appears  to  us  the  messenger,  whose 
adventures  are  told  in  The  Journey  of  an  Egyptian. 
The  scribe  who  wrote  this  story  predicts  that  his 
hero  will  experience  dangers,  glory,  and  deeds  of 
love : 

I  will  show  thee  the  way  that  goes  past  Mageddo. 
There  thou  art,  on  the  brink  of  a  gulf,  two  thousand 
cubits  deep,  strewn  with  rocks  and  pebbles,  and  thou 
goest  along,  holding  the  bow  and  brandishing  thy 
sword  in  thy  left  hand;  thou  showest  it  to  the  chiefs, 
and  thou  compellest  them  to  lower  their  eyes  before 
thy  hand.  Thou,  however,  goest  alone,  without  a 
guide,  and  thou  findest  no  mountaineer  to  show  thee 
the  direction  thou  shouldst  follow;  soon,  anguish 
overcomes  thee,  thy  hair  rises  on  thy  head,  for  the 
road  is  not  marked  out,  the  abyss  is  on  one  side  and 
the  abrupt  mountain  on  the  other.  Finally,  entering 
Jaffa,  thou  findest  there  an  orchard,  blossoming  in 
its  season,  thou  makest  a  hole  in  the  hedge  in  order 
to  go  in  to  eat;  thou  findest  there  the  pretty  maid 
who  guards  the  orchard;  she  accepts  thee  for  her 

^  Cj.  Maspero,  Les  Contes  populaires  de  VEgypte  ancienne,  3d 
edition,  p.  199.  In  the  account  of  the  legendary  voyage  made  by 
Ounamonou,  the  messenger,  to  Syria,  the  prince  of  Byblos 
boasts  of  having  held  as  prisoners  for  seventeen  years  the  mes- 
sengers of  Pharaoh  and  of  having  finally  put  them  to  death. 


Pharaonic  Diplomacy  97 


lover  and  gives  thee  her  breast  in  blossom.  Thou 
art  discovered,  thou  declares t  who  thou  art,  and  all 
agree  that  thou  art  a  hero!  .  .  . 

The  famous  Thoutii — who  was  said  to  have 
subdued  the  rebel  city  of  Jaffa,  by  introducing  his 
soldiers  there,  hidden  in  huge  vases,  and  by  brand- 
ishing the  great  stick  of  Thothmes  III — is  also 
a  legendary  prototype  of  those  Egyptian  mes- 
sengers who  shaped  the  destinies  of  cities  and  of 
kings.  Again,  in  the  story  of  the  Predestined 
Prince  we  find  a  messenger  informing  the  Prince 
that  it  is  in  the  far  land  of  Naharima  that  he 
shall  meet  the  princess  who  can  free  him  of  his 
three  evil  fates.  On  the  shores  of  Alasia,  there 
is  a  priest,  Ounamonou,  who  is  likewise  a  mer- 
chant and  a  diplomat;  he  manages  to  foil  all  the 
tricks  of  the  wily,  petty  kings  of  Syria.  The 
gods  of  Egypt  themselves  are  well  versed  in  dip- 
lomacy: the  treaty  signed  by  Ramses  II  with  the 
king  of  the  Kheta  contains  a  clause  stating  that 
one  thousand  gods  stand  security  for  Pharaoh; 
later  on  a  legend  relates  that  the  gods  once  sent 
one  of  them,  Khonsu  the  Theban,  as  an  ambassa- 
dor, to  exorcise  the  daughter  of  the  prince  of 
Bakhtan. 

Thus  the  poetic  cycle  has  sketched  for  us  in 
broad  outlines   a  certain  type  of  adventurer 
7 


98  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


who  is  bold  and  cunning,  a  lover  of  ladies,  and  a 
magician.  Such  a  combination  of  gifts  is  hardly 
attainable  by  mortal  man,  but  it  may  well  be 
that  it  represented  for  the  Egyptian  the  beau- 
ideal  that  a  "man  of  career"  ought  to  strive  to 
attain. 


CHAPTER  III 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids 

Successful  excavations  undertaken  during  the 
last  fifteen  years  have  allowed  us  a  glimpse  of  the 
origin  of  Egyptian  civilisation.  Until  our  know- 
ledge was  thus  widened,  the  history  of  Egypt 
began  for  our  purposes  virtually  about  one  century 
before  the  IVth  dynasty,  which  erected  the 
great  pyramids,  that  is  about  4000  B.C.  The 
period  antedating  this  dynasty  offered  only  un- 
certain traditions:  according  to  Manetho  (who 
wrote  in  the  third  century  B.C.  a  Greek  history 
of  Egypt,  of  which  we  have  nothing  left  but  chro- 
nological summaries),  the  first  two  dynasties 
sprang  from  Thinis  (near  the  site  of  Abydos); 
the  third  resided  at  Memphis  and  probably 
founded  the  Memphite  kingdom,  the  pyramids 
and  other  monuments  of  which  have  come  to  us. 

Of  the  first  kings  of  Egypt,  Manetho  has  pre- 
served for  us  only  legends;  he  has,  at  least,  trans- 
cribed their  names  and  classified  them,  according 

99 


100         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


to  families  or  dynasties.  Many  of  these  names  are 
recognisable,  in  spite  of  the  divergencies  between 
the  hieroglyphic  characters  and  the  Greek  tran- 
scription, in  the  lists  of  kings  that  the  Pharaohs 
of  the  XVIIIth  and  XlXth  dynasties  had  en- 
graved in  the  temples  of  Karnak  and  Abydos. 
The  papyrus  known  under  the  designation  of 
Royal  Canon  "  of  Turin,  written  at  the  same  time, 
has  preserved  for  us  another  more  complete  list, 
indicating  the  length  of  the  reign  of  each  king  and 
the  total  number  of  years  during  which  each  great 
royal  family  occupied  the  throne ;  but  this  papyrus 
is  in  bits  to-day,  and  many  of  its  precious  pieces 
have  been  destroyed. 

This  is  the  more  to  be  regretted  because  the 
document  claimed  to  trace  back  the  Egyptian 
monarchy  to  its  origin,  before  even  the  1st 
dynasty.  The  human  kings — according  to  this 
record — were  preceded  by  a  fabulous  number  of 
gods,  demi-gods,  and  "dead"  (or  "shades"), 
whose  names  are  mentioned  reverentially  together 
with  the  years  of  their  reign,  varying  in  length 
from  three  hundred  to  three  thousand  years  and 
more.  Manetho  has  preserved  for  us  a  similar 
nomenclature,  and  Diodorus  of  Sicily  later 
repeated  this  tradition: 

The  Egyptian  priests,  reckoning  the  time  that  has 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  loi 


elapsed  from  the  reign  of  the  Sun  down  to  the  expedi- 
tion of  Alexander,  make  it  about  twenty- three  thou- 
sand years.  They  say,  and  this  is  evidently  a  fable, 
that  of  the  gods  who  reigned  upon  earth,  the  most 
ancient  held  the  sceptre  each  for  twelve  hundred 
years,  and  their  descendants  not  less  than  three 
hundred.  The  Egyptians  say  also  that  besides 
heavenly  gods  there  were  others,  called  earthly  gods, 
who  were  horn  mortals,  but  who  acquired  immortality 
by  their  great  intelligence,  and  the  services  they 
rendered  to  the  human  race.  Several  of  them  reigned 
in  Egypt.  The  Sun  was  the  first  king  of  the  Egypt- 
ians .  .  .  then  Saturn  reigned,  and  gave  birth  to 
Osiris  and  Isis,  who,  having  themselves  attained 
royalty,  ameliorated  social  life  by  their  beneficence.^ 

The  Egyptian  priests  possessed  the  authentic 
archives  of  these  fabulous  times;  they  have  given 
us  edifying  accounts  of  the  reign  of  the  king  Ra, 
of  his  sons  Shu  and  Seb,  of  the  misfortunes  of 
Osiris,  persecuted  by  his  brother  Set,  avenged  by 
his  son  Horus  and  by  the  followers  of  Horus." 
But  a  historical  document,  even  if  it  were  only  a 
fragment,  would  better  answer  our  purpose!  Until 
the  present  time,  the  most  ancient  records  known 
were  the  false  door  of  a  tomb,  bearing  the  names  of 
Sondou  and  Perabsen,  of  the  Ild  dynasty,  and 
a  stela  with  the  name  of  King  Zeser  of  the  Illd 
dynasty  engraved  on  a  rock  in  Sinai.    As  for  the 

'  Diodorus  I,  xxvi,  13. 


102         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


kings  of  the  preceding  dynasties,  we  did  not 
possess  any  monument  that  dated  from  their  time. 

In  the  absence  of  texts  and  figured  monuments, 
could  we  find  in  Egypt  itself  any  indications  that 
there  was  a  prehistoric  civilisation  corresponding 
to  the  periods  studied  elsewhere  imder  the  name 
of  the  ' '  stone  age  "or  * '  bronze  age ' '  ?  Until  recent 
years,  Egyptologists  paid  little  attention  to  flints 
and  polished  stones,  for,  after  the  unexpected 
and  unhoped  for  decipherment  of  hieroglyphics, 
the  essential  task  before  them  had  been  to  collect 
and  translate  texts,  or  to  clear  temples  and  tombs: 
even  to-day,  this  colossal  task  is  scarcely  more 
than  begun.  But  geologists  and  naturalists  came 
to  Egypt,  and  they  attempted  the  solution  of 
problems  to  which  epigraphists  and  archaeologists 
had  remained  somewhat  indifferent. 

When  the  Suez  Canal  was  inaugurated,  in  1869, 
the  Kliedive,  Ismail,  generously  invited  not  only 
rulers  but  also  scholars  to  come  to  Egypt.  Among 
those  invited  were  the  geologist,  Arcelin,  the 
naturalists,  Hamy  and  F.  Lenormant,  who  became 
interested  in  the  pebbles  along  the  road  of  the 
King's  Valley,  which  the  Egyptologists  had 
scarcely  taken  notice  of:  it  was  found  that  they 
were  hatchets,  points,  and  flint  knives,  resembling 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  103 


the  instruments  of  the  neoHthic  period.  Unfortun- 
ately, no  animal  bones,  no  determined  geological 
layer  enabled  the  scientists  to  date  these  flints 
strewn  over  the  desert.  Mariette,  the  first  Di- 
rector of  the  Service  des  Antiquites,  pointed  out 
the  fact  that  no  evidence  warranted  the  assigning 
of  these  flints  to  the  prehistoric  period,  more 
especially  as  the  Egyptians  had  continued  to  use 
stone  weapons  throughout  their  civilisation. 

The  first  Egyptologists,  indeed,  were  reluctant 
to  give  up  the  idea  that  Egypt  had  not  known  the 
stone  age;  from  the  very  beginning,  those  men 
of  unknown  origin,  who  had  settled  in  Egypt, 
seem  to  have  enjoyed  a  superior  culture.  The 
alluring  conception  that  there  were  dynasties  of 
divine  beings  deluded  others  besides  the  ancient 
Egyptians!  Mariette,  however,  perceived  the 
pertinence  of  these  new  researches,  and  awaited 
their  results:  ''In  order  to  find  evidences  of  a 
stone  age  in  Egypt,  new  excavations  must  be 
undertaken,  under  such  conditions  that  the  monu- 
ments brought  to  light  may  readily  be  proved  to 
be  of  human  workmanship  and  may  be  dated 
geologically  from  a  period  preceding  all  known 
history."^  These  excavations  Mariette  hoped  to 
be  able  to  undertake,  but  he  never  had  the  leisure 

^  Mariette,  De  Vdge  de  la  pierre  en  Egypte  (1870). 


104         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


for  them.  His  successor,  M.  Maspero,  had  to 
face  an  enormous  task,  yet  he  bore  in  mind 
Mariette's  expectations :  before  he  laid  down  his 
work  as  Director  of  the  Service  des  Antiquites, 
in  1886,  he  re-edited  Mariette's  memoir  on  the 
stone  age  in  Egypt,  in  order  to  stimulate  researches 
urgently  needed. 

An  English  archaeologist,  Professor  Flinders 
Petrie,  was  the  first  to  carry  out  this  work,  of  his 
own  accord.  Engaged  to  execute  excavations  for 
the  Egyptian  Exploration  Fund  and  the  Egyptian 
Research  Account,  he  applied  to  the  task  qualities 
which  he  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree,  method 
and  observation.  M.  Petrie  was  not,  at  that  time, 
a  professional  Egyptologist:  his  interest  in  ar- 
chaeology was  not  limited  to  written  memorials, 
or  to  ''beautiful  pieces";  he  gave  equal  attention 
to  small  objects,  and  found  pleasure  and  profit 
in  classifying  fragments  of  pottery  and  stones  to 
which  he  devoted  as  much  care  as  to  scarabs 
and  stelae.  He  demonstrated  by  his  persevering 
investigations  what  can  be  gathered  from  the 
minute  study  of  little  objects,  to  enable  one  to  put 
any  monument  found  in  their  vicinity,  even  though 
it  bear  no  date  or  inscription,  into  the  place 
where  it  belongs  in  an  archaeological  or  historical 
series. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  105 

But  even  Flinders  Petrie,  when  he  began  his 
excavations,  hardly  believed  in  a  prehistoric 
Egypt.  On  the  site  of  Kahiin,  at  the  entrance 
of  the  Fayum,  he  cleared,  in  1889,  a  city  of  the 
Xllth  dynasty;  near  by,  he  found  a  repository 
in  which  were  hatchets,  scrapers,  flint  knives,  and 
rough  pottery.  A  little  farther  north,  at  Meidun, 
near  the  pyramid  of  the  King  Sneferu  (Illd 
dynasty)  and  the  tombs  of  the  first  historic 
Egyptians,  he  discovered  (during  the  years  1890 
to  1892),  objects  in  flint  placed  side  by  side  with 
others  in  bronze.  This  could  be  explained  up  to 
this  point  by  the  fact,  widely  recognised,  that 
stone  implements  continued  to  be  used  throughout 
the  entire  Egyptian  civilisation.  But  during  the 
winter  of  1 894-1 895,  Messrs.  Petrie  and  Quibell 
found  that  the  sites  of  B  alias  and  Toukh  (north  of 
Thebes)  contained  extensive  cemeteries  of  the 
same  type  as  the  isolated  specimens  found  at 
Meidun:  tombs,  where  skeletons,  not  mummified, 
appeared  surrounded  with  flints,  potter^'^,  and  vases 
of  a  style  imknown  to  classic  Egypt.  When  at  work 
in  Meidun,  Petrie  had  already  had  the  intuition 
that  he  was  in  the  presence  of  a  primitive,  ancient, 
native  race ;  but  theory  generally  outweighs  experi- 
ence; the  stone  age  in  Egypt  was  contrary  to 
theory;  and  in  consequence  his  private  impression 


io6         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


had  been  temporarily  suppressed.  It  was  ad- 
mitted that  tombs  of  so  curious  a  type  were  those 
of  a  new  race,  non-Egyptian,  rather  Libyan  accord- 
ing to  appearances,  who,  either  by  invasion  or  by 
slow  infiltration,  had  come  into  Egypt  after  the 
Vlth  dynasty,  during  the  much  disturbed  period 
that  followed  the  Memphite  epoch;  this  race  was 
supposed  to  have  kept  itself  for  several  centtu*ies 
distinct  from  the  Pharaonic  civilisation,  retaining 
its  customs  and  its  industry,  until  it  was  absorbed 
by  the  native  population,  towards  the  Xllth 
dynasty. 

This  new  race  theory  did  not  survive  any  length 
of  time.  Scarcely  had  it  given  to  Egyptologists  a 
very  plausible,  at  least  a  very  convenient  expla- 
nation of  the  problems  that  had  arisen  at  Meidun 
and  Ballas,  when  it  was  renounced,  even  by  its 
propounders,  in  consequence  of  the  illuminating 
discoveries  of  Messrs.  de  Morgan  and  Amelineau. 

M.  de  Morgan,  who  became  Director  of  the 
Service  des  Antiquites  in  1892,  was  not  an  Egypto- 
logist, and  had  not  become  imbued  with  any  theory. 
His  personal  studies  and  excavations  in  Caucasus 
had  made  him  familiar  with  the  problems  of  the 
origins  of  peoples,  and  with  the  methods  of  solv- 
ing them.  Upon  arrival  in  Egypt,  he  took  up 
the  prehistoric  question  just  at  the  point  where 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  107 


Mariette,  and  his  predecessors,  Hamy  and  Lenor- 
mant,  had  left  it : 

I  gathered  [he  wrote  in  1895]  all  the  scattered 
documents,  made  researches  in  many  places,  bought 
up  the  flint  implements  that  the  merchants  had.  I 
was  thus  gradually  led  to  think  that,  if  some  flints 
belong  to  the  historic  period,  yet  most  of  them  date 
from  a  period  much  more  remote,  and  that  there  are 
in  the  valley  of  the  Nile  more  abundant  evidences 
of  the  neolithic  age  than  is  generally  believed.' 

The  result  of  his  investigations,  actively  partici- 
pated in  by  Messrs.  Legrain,  Daressy,  and  Jequier, 
was  embodied  in  a  volume  entitled  rAge  de  la 
pierre  et  les  metaux  en  Egypte,  in  which  numerous 
important  documents  were  faithfully  reproduced. 
It  became  difficult,  from  that  time,  to  avoid 
admitting  that  prehistoric  man  existed  in  Egypt. 
Now  the  book  was  still  in  the  printer's  hands, 
when  excavations  conducted  by  M.  Amelineau  at 
Abydos  and  new  researches  made  by  M.  de 
Morgan  at  Negadeh  brought  the  disputed  question 
to  a  close. 

On  the  site  of  Abydos,  M.  Amelineau  found,  in 
the  centre  of  a  necropolis  attributed  to  the 
new  race,  large  tombs  of  a  very  different  type, 

^  J.  de  Morgan,  Recherches  sur  les  origines  de  V  Egypte,  i,  p.  54. 
1896.  Cf.  also:  Ethnographie  prehistorique  et  tombeau  royal  de 
Negadah,  1897. 


io8         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


containing  stelae  with  royal  names.  Some  of 
these  names,  deciphered  in  1897,  certified  that 
these  new  monuments  belonged  to  the  1st  and 
Ild  historic  dynasties.  The  same  year,  M.  de 
Morgan  cleared,  at  Negadeh,  a  tomb  of  the  same 
type,  which  appeared  to  be  that  of  Menes,  the 
first  king  on  the  ofhcial  lists.  The  constructors  of 
Abydos  and  of  Negadeh  were,  then,  Pharaohs  of 
the  first  dynasties;  the  new  race  people  buried 
near  them,  of  a  less  advanced  civilisation,  were 
their  predecessors  or  their  subjects. 

The  question  of  the  origins  of  Egypt  may  be 
put  to-day  in  the  following  terms:  a  race,  called 
native  or  indigenous,  having  attained  the  highest 
stage  of  neolithic  civilisation,  occupied  the  valley 
of  the  Nile;  Si  foreign  race,  more  civilised,  of  un- 
explained origin,  displaced  the  first  and  founded 
around  Abydos  a  kingdom  which  we  call  Thinite, 
to  use  the  term  of  Manetho  again. 

The  native'  race  which  occupied  Egypt  in  pre- 
historic times,  has  left  traces  all  along  the  valley 
of  the  Nile;  the  landmarks  of  the  stone  age  have 
been  pointed  out  by  M.  de  Morgan,  so  that  it  is 
possible  to  draw  up  a  map  of  neolithic  Egypt  with 

^  The  term,  new  race,  which  was  used  to  designate  this  division 
of  the  people  before  one  knew  their  proper  place  in  history,  is 
no  longer  used. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  109 


its  centres  of  culture:  Abu-Roash  in  the  north; 
Kawamil,  Abydos,  El-Amrah,  B alias,  and Toukh,  in 
the  centre  of  the  valley;  El-Kab,  Hierakonpolis, 
and  Silsileh,  in  the  south.  Dr.  Schweinfurth  and  M. 
Legrain  have  discovered  important  stations  in  the 
Arabic  and  Libyan  deserts;  the  exploration  of 
the  oasis  of  Khargieh,  undertaken  by  M.  Legrain, 
was  also  very  fruitful;  these  investigations  have 
shown  that  prehistoric  men  are  traceable  by  means 
of  the  necropolises  and  the  flint-cutter's  work- 
shops fotmd  in  the  Nile  valley,  usually  at  the 
opening  of  the  roads  of  the  desert;  in  the  desert 
itself,  along  the  roads  leading  to  the  oases,  to  the 
springs,  still  used  to-day  as  halting-places,  are 
found  flints,  rough  or  cut,  by  the  thousands. 

Flint  weapons  or  implements  are,  in  Egypt  as 
elsewhere,  all  that  has  come  down  to  us  from  this 
earlier  race.  Flint,  a  kind  of  silica  condensed  in 
knots  or  layers  in  chalky  limestone,  is  easily 
separated  from  the  chalk,  and  forms  then  a  round 
or  elongated  mass,  from  which  primitive  imple- 
ments can  be  fashioned.  Sometimes,  in  the 
desert,  flinty  stones  split  as  a  result  of  the  action  of 
the  sun:  thus  furnishing,  without  necessitating 
any  labour,  clubs,  hatchets,  and  points  with  sharp 
edges.'    In  the  majority  of  cases,  however,  man 

^  J.  de  Morgan,  Recherches  sur  les  origines  de  V  Egypte,  I,  p.  57. 


no         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


aided  nature ;  securing  rough  flint  in  order  to  make 
weapons  of  defence  or  tools  to  work  with,  he  cut 
them  rudely  without  attempting  to  give  them  an 
artistic  finish.  The  age  in  which  the  first  traces 
of  human  industry  appear  to  us  is  that  of  the 
"cut  stone,"  or  "ancient  stone  age"  (palaeolithic 
age);  man  existed  in  this  period,  which  extends 
back,  according  to  geologists,  over  several  hundred 
thousand  years. 

A  new  era  begins  when  man  knows  how  to  cut 
and  polish  flint:  this  is  the  "polished  stone  age," 
or  new  stone  age  (neolithic).  Man  has  already 
made  prodigious  progress;  he  is  able  to  work  all 
kinds  of  materials:  wood,  bones,  ivory,  soft  or 
hard  stone;  he  makes  crude  furniture,  vases  of 
stone,  vessels  of  baked  or  of  unbaked  clay.  The 
neolithic  age  did  not  precede  our  own  age  by 
more  than  ten  or  twenty  thousand  years;  we 
possess  the  skeletons  of  men;  their  graves  are 
equipped  with  various  objects  that  throw  light  on 
their  ideas  relative  to  a  life  beyond  the  tomb. 

These  elementary  classifications  will  enable  the 
reader  to  understand  how  it  has  been  possible  to 
trace  men  of  the  palaeolithic  and  neolithic  ages 
in  Egypt.  There  are  no  written  documents,  or 
inscribed  monuments  of  great  size  to  tell  us  the 
story ;  but  a  flint  pebble  picked  up  on  the  sand, 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  iii 


if  one  knows  how  to  interpret  its  flaking  or  polish, 
will  speak  of  the  past ;  so  does  a  bone,  a  fragment 
of  ivory,  a  bit  of  rude  or  decorated  pottery,  a 
chip  of  a  stone  vase,  a  ledge  of  rock  bearing  graffiti, 
or  a  tomb  dug  out  of  the  sand,  containing  a  skel- 
eton still  surrounded  with  mortuary  vases. 

The  flint  workshops  are  the  only  vestiges  of  the 
most  ancient  population,  that  of  the  palaeolithic 
age:  in  the  sand  or  on  the  surface  of  the  desert, 
are  scattered  over  several  miles,  thousands  of 
mace-heads,  axe-heads,  scrapers,  or  knives  of 
yellow  flint,  rudely  flaked.  The  inexperienced 
traveller  would  mistake  them  for  ordinary  stones; 
the  geologist  recognises  in  them  the  work  of  the 
first  men.  How  are  these  flakes  to  be  dated? 
It  is  easy  to  determine  the  age  of  beds  of  cut 
flint  found  in  the  alluvium  of  our  rivers  (such  as 
the  Somme  and  the  Oise,  in  the  north  of  France). 
At  Chelles  (near  Paris),  for  instance,  flint  is  dated 
by  the  deposit  of  alluvium  in  which  it  lies  and  by 
the  bones  of  animals  found  near  it.  In  Egypt, 
flints  are  found  in  the  desert,  on  the  superficial 
gravel  of  the  diluvium,  but  no  bones  are  with  them ; 
the  only  clue  to  their  age  is  that  they  resemble 
strongly  the  Chellean  specimens.  ^    It  is  legitimate, 

'  That  is  why  they  are  often  called,  even  in  Egypt,  Chellean 
fiints. 


112         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


therefore,  to  conclude  that  they  are  implements 
used  by  the  first  men  who  lived  in  Egypt,  but 
inasmuch  as  they  cannot  be  identified  by  means 
of  the  Egyptian  fauna  of  the  same  period,  it 
is  rash  to  attempt  to  fix  the  date  of  their 
making. ' 

At  least,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  these  flakes  belong 
to  an  earlier  age  than  the  weapons  and  tools  of 
carefully  worked  and  polished  stone  that  are 
found  in  the  cemeteries  of  the  neolithic  period. 
Since  1890,  at  the  points  where  the  roads  of  the 
desert  open  into  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  Petrie,  De 
Morgan,  Quibell,  and  Amelineau  have  discovered 
many  tombs  with  skeletons,  tools,  and  mortuary 
furnishings,  belonging  to  a  race  which  had  already 
attained  an  interesting  stage  of  civilisation.  We 
may,  by  the  first  historic  monuments  immediately 
following  this  period,  fix  the  end  of  this  neolithic 
period  approximately  at  5000  B.C.  But  how 
many  centuries  elapsed  before  the  palaeolithic 
period  passed  over  into  the  age  of  cut  and  pol- 
ished stone? 

Let  us  consider  a  typical  tomb  of  the  neolithic 
period :  a  few  feet  below  the  sand,  there  is  an  oval 
ditch,  without  walls  or  ceiHng,  just  a  pit  dug  in  the 
shingly  ground.    A  skeleton  appears,  lying  on  the 

^  Cf.  Salomon  Reinach,  Vanthropologie,  1897,  P-  327- 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  113 


left  side,  in  the  position  called  ''crouched"  or 
contracted,"  the  limbs  bent,  the  knees  drawn  up 
on  a  level  with  the  chest,  the  hands  raised  to  the 
face.  All  around  the  body  are  the  household 
articles  necessary  to  establish  a  home,  the  last 
dwelling  of  the  deceased:  spheric  or  oval  vessels 
made  of  pottery  or  of  hard  stone,  plates,  dishes, 
and  cups,  wherein  funeral  offerings  were  laid.  With- 
in reach  of  the  hand  are  placed  flint  weapons  and 
tools,  amulets  and  rudely  carved  jewels;  near  the 
face,  or  sometimes  between  the  hands  pressed 
together,  a  slate  or  limestone  palette,  the  religious 
and  artistic  importance  of  which  is  great.  The 
body  shows  no  trace  of  mummification  as  yet; 
often  it  was  wrapped  in  the  skin  of  a  gazelle  fast- 
ened together,  or  in  a  mat  of  rushes.  "I  some- 
times found,"  writes  M.  de  Morgan,  "these 
wrappings  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation,  but 
they  rapidly  fell  into  dust  upon  contact  with  the 
air." 

The  skeletons  are  of  tall  stature,  of  fine  and 
slender  proportions,  the  skin  is  white,  and  the  hair 
smooth  and  often  fair.  Judging  from  the  little 
figures  in  ivory  or  earthenware,  the  men  had 
straight  or  slightly  arched  noses,  large  almond- 
shaped  eyes,  oval  faces,  lengthened  still  more  by  a 
pointed  beard  and  a  conical  head-dress.  An 

8 


1 14         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


earthen  figure,  found  in  Gebel-Tarif,  representing 
a  kneeling  man  with  his  arms  stretched  close 
along  the  body,  and  his  head  with  a  projecting 
nose,  and  chin  thrown  back,  gives  us  a  very 
realistic  image  of  a  man  of  low  estate,  in  an  attitude 
of  prayer  or  submission,  while,  on  the  contrary,  a 
few  heads,  in  ivory,  discovered  at  Hierakonpolis, 
exemplify  the  finer,  clean-cut  faces  of  chieftains 
of  clans.  Here  is  a  dancing  woman  with  raised 
arms;  she  is  thin  at  the  waist  but  has  broad  hips; 
others  are  standing,  quite  naked,  in  a  hieratic 
attitude.  The  forms  are  dainty,  in  spite  of  the 
rudeness  of  the  work;  the  artist  tried  to  curve 
the  broad  hips  harmoniously  between  the  long 
waist  and  tapering  legs.  Side  by  side  with  these 
aristocratic  beauties,  we  have  the  woman  of  the 
lower  class,  who  walks,  clothed  in  a  garment  open 
at  the  breast.  With  her  left  hand  she  holds 
against  her  shoulder  a  child,  which  leans  over  to 
grasp  the  heavy  breast.  Another  figure  is  that 
of  a  servant  standing  in  a  jar,  in  which  she  is 
stamping  something  imder  her  feet:  her  left 
hand  rests  firmly  upon  her  hip,  the  right  hand 
has  a  tight  grip  on  the  edge  of  the  jar;  the 
whole  is  expressive,  though  crude.  Elsewhere, 
we  see  grotesque  dwarfs  and  Hottentot  Venuses 
of  the  ultracallipygian  type.    The  ethnographic 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  115 


value  of  such  realistic  representations  will  be 
seen  later.  ^ 

The  human  body  not  only  serves  as  a  model  for 
the  artist;  it  is  responsible  for  the  beginnings 
of  art.  The  primitive  inhabitants  of  Egypt,  like 
all  savage  races,  tattooed  their  bodies:  certain 
statuettes  of  women,  in  the  Petrie  collection, 
still  bear  a  layer  of  green  paint ;  the  dancing  girl 
of  Toukh  has  her  entire  body  ornamented  with 
zigzag  lines  composing  floral  and  animal  designs, 
traced  in  black  on  a  greyish  background.  That  is 
the  reason  why  there  are  so  often  found  in  pre- 
historic tombs  colouring  materials,  such  as  red 
and  yellow  ochre  and  malachite.  In  the  classic 
period,  Egyptians  always  painted  men  red,  and 
women  yellow ;  they  also  maintained  the  custom  of 
surrounding  the  eye  with  a  band  of  paint,  which 
still  appears  distinctly  green  on  ancient  statues, 
such  as  those  of  Sepa  and  Nesa  in  the  Louvre. 
This  decoration  of  the  human  body  is  to  be  ex- 
plained by  hygienic  reasons  and  mystic  beliefs: 
the  paint  for  the  eyes,  consisting  chiefly  of  sulphur 
of  antimony,  was  applied  to  prevent  ophthalmia; 
the  paintings  of  talismans  and  talismanic  designs 
were  considered  efficacious  against  bad  luck. 

*  The  plates  of  these  figures  are  in  J.  Capart's  remarkable 
book:  Les  debuts  de  I'art  en  Egypte. 


ii6         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Great  care  was  given  to  the  hair:  men  divided 
their  hair  into  many  braids,  or  shaved  their  heads, 
leaving  uncut  only  one  long  lock  which  hung 
down  their  back;  sometimes  beard  and  hair  were 
enclosed  in  bags,  possibly  for  the  sake  of  cleanliness. 
Women  wore  wigs  and  bands  of  false  hair ;  pins  and 
combs,  of  bone  or  ivory,  carved  with  dainty  sil- 
houettes of  birds  or  gazelles,  fastened  the  natural 
or  the  artificial  coiffure;  a  head-rest  was  used  at 
night  to  save  this  elaborate  arrangement  that  was 
to  last  several  days.  The  use  of  false  beards  and 
hanging  plaits  was  not  abandoned  by  the  Egypt- 
ians of  classic  times,  though  they  restricted  its 
use  to  gods  and  Idngs ;  the  wearing  of  wigs,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  granted  to  all  classes. 

Jewels  assured  the  human  body  the  same  pro- 
tection as  paintings  and  wigs.  On  the  forehead, 
at  the  neck,  along  the  breast  and  hips,  at  the 
wrists,  ankles,  and  fingers,  the  human  body  either 
contracts  into  narrower  surfaces,  to  which  talis- 
mans may  be  fastened,  or  expands  into  broader 
surfaces,  better  able  to  support  some  magic 
armour.  At  these  parts  of  the  body,  life  is  pulsat- 
ing and  almost  tangible;  it  seems  as  though  it 
might  escape,  like  a  rushing  liquid,  unless  some 
band  compresses  and  imprisons  it  within  the  body ; 
hence,  the  use  of  bracelets,  anklets,  necklets,  gir- 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  117 


dies,  and  breast-pendants.  Originally,  all  these 
were  simple  rings  of  flint,  bone,  or  ivory,  used,  not 
merely  as  adornments,  but  as  means  of  defence. 
Later,  to  increase  the  magic  power  of  these  talis- 
mans, figures  of  birds  or  Felidag  were  engraved 
or  cut  on  the  rings,  and  combs,  and  bracelets,  in 
order  to  protect  the  person  wearing  them  against 
these  animals;  and  this  use  of  ornamentation 
enabled  artists  to  exercise  their  creative  faculty. 

Clothing  at  this  period  was  of  a  very  simple 
kind.  Men  and  women  girded  their  loins  with  a 
cord,  the  chief  purpose  of  which  seems  to  have 
been,  as  in  the  case  of  the  knots  at  the  neck, 
wrists,  and  ankles,  to  protect  the  body  from  acci- 
dent by  magic.  The  classic  Egyptians  themselves 
sometimes  wore  nothing  but  a  girdle.  By  at- 
taching an  animal's  skin  to  the  girdle  or  the  collar 
the  flowing  cloak  was  originated;  in  the  classic 
period,  the  panther's  skin  continued  to  be  the 
characteristic  adornment  of  certain  priests.  To 
these  vestments  should  be  added  the  veils  worn 
by  women  and  possibly  by  men  (as  is  still  to-day 
the  custom  among  the  Touaregs),  and  the  piece 
of  woven  fabric  occasionally  worn  round  the  hips, 
to  which  was  attached  the  tail  of  an  animal 
depending  behind. 

These  flowing  garments  necessitated  the  use  of 


ii8         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


hooks  or  pins;  of  which  there  were,  indeed,  many, 
made  of  bone,  ivory,  and  flint.  In  some  rare 
instances  there  are  found  in  the  tombs  copper 
pins,  fastening  the  mat  of  reeds,  or  the  animal's 
skin  in  which  the  body  was  wrapped.  It  is  cer- 
tain that,  except  for  these  very  small  objects, 
which  probably  came  from  a  foreign  country,  the 
use  of  metal  was  unknown  to  the  people  of  the 
neolithic  age. 

Flint  and  hard  stones  furnished  the  raw  mate- 
rials for  arms  and  implements,  as  in  the  palaeolithic 
period;  but  the  workmanship  is  much  more 
elaborate,  and  the  articles  manufactured  at  that 
time  are  often  marvels  of  art.  We  can  easily 
trace  the  successive  steps  of  the  manufacture. 
Any  flint  stone  found  on  the  sand,  or  the  kidney- 
shaped  concretion  formed  sometimes  within  the 
limestone,  furnished  man  with  a  conical-shaped 
piece,  ready  to  be  made  into  an  axe-head,  a  knife, 
or  an  arrowhead.  The  workman  thereupon  took 
a  round  shingle,  or  a  boulder  of  hard  stone  to  be 
used  as  a  hammer.  With  a  few  hard  blows,  he 
shaped  out  the  implement  he  wanted;  then,  by 
successive  flaking  and  chipping  he  sharpened  the 
edge.  This  edge,  when  completed,  did  not  present 
a  smooth  surface,  but  appeared  as  a  series  of 
notches  much  like  the  teeth  of  a  saw.    The  axes, 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  119 


on  the  other  hand,  once  shaped  out,  were  sharpened 
with  a  single  blow  of  the  striker,  breaking  off  a 
fragment  all  along  the  edge.'  The  finest  work- 
manship is  that  of  the  knives;  in  no  country  in 
the  world  were  found  specimens  to  be  compared 
with  these.  They  are  large,  semi-circular  blades 
of  light  yellow,  or  horny  flint,  ten  to  twelve  inches 
long,  one  end  of  which  is  pointed,  the  other 
rounded  off  and  serving  as  a  handle.  The  most 
ancient  specimens  are  entirely  polished;  later, 
when  the  workmanship  had  been  perfected,  flint- 
chipping  became  so  precise  that  it  resulted  in 
fluted  lines,  meeting  symmetrically  on  either  side 
of  the  ridge. 

These  masterpieces  are  excelled  by  the  flint 
bracelets  found  at  Abydos  and  El-Amrah.  Imagine 
stone  rings  as  perfect  in  form  and  as  thin  as  metal 
rings;  it  seems  impossible  that,  with  their  primi- 
tive tools,  men  of  the  neolithic  age  should  have 
succeeded  in  such  a  difficult  operation.  M.  de 
Morgan  supposes  that  the  workman  loosened  a 
spherical  nodule  from  the  limestone  boss,  shaped 
it  into  a  perfect  disk,  drilled  a  conical  hole  in  its 
centre,  by  means  of  a  pointed  piece  of  wood, 

^  De  Morgan,  Recherches  ii,  p.  59.  Cf.  G.  Schweinfurth, 
"Recherches  sur  I'age  de  la  pierre  dans  la  haute  Egypte"  {Annales 
du  Service  des  Antiquites,  vi,  p.  9). 


120         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


supplemented  by  quartzite  sand  used  in  order  to 
wear  away  the  flint  when  rubbed  against  it. 

This  conical  hole  was  the  starting-point  of  the  chip- 
ping, by  which  the  ring  was  hollowed  out,  and  the 
chips  were  obtained,  not  by  percussion,  for  direct 
blows  would  inevitably  have  broken  the  object,  but 
by  pressure,  first  on  one  side,  then  on  the  other  side 
of  the  chip.  This  explanation,  although  satisfactory, 
is  perhaps  not  the  true  one;  it  shows,  however,  how 
many  precautions  the  operator  had  to  take  to  obtain 
a  flint  bracelet.  Ornaments  of  that  kind  were  un- 
questionably of  high  value.  Flint  bracelets  mark  the 
acme  of  the  art  of  flaking  and  chipping  stone,  and  it 
is  only  in  Egypt  that  they  are  to  be  met  with.' 

Weapons  and  tools  give  us  information  about 
the  life  and  customs  of  the  natives.  Those 
nomads  of  the  desert  were  not  a  warlike  race ; 
at  least  the  corpses  found  show  rarely  any  traces 
of  wounds;  but  the  struggle  against  wild  beasts, 
and  hunting  and  fishing  required  all  their  activity. 
Certain  graffiti,  also  figures  of  animals  carved  in 
flint  and  in  ivory,  engraved  on  slate  palettes, 
mounted  in  pins  or  combs,  bear  witness  to  man's 
encounters  with  lions,  panthers,  hyenas,  jackals, 
gazelles,  elephants,  hippopotamuses,  and  all  kinds 
of  birds,  reptiles  and  fish.  In  the  same  way, 
tilling  and  farming  implements,  sickles,  hoes, 

'  De  Morgan,  Recherches,  ii,  p.  60. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  121 


plough-shares,  all  made  of  flint,  tell  us  of  the 
patient  work  in  the  fields,  of  the  reed  and  mud  huts 
in  which  were  housed  the  cattle  and  beasts  of 
burden,  oxen,  mouflions,  asses,  hogs,  sheep,  goats, 
and  countless  swans,  ducks,  and  pigeons.  The 
wandering  tribe  that  originally  settled  in  the 
fertile  valley  of  the  Nile  thus  developed  gradually 
into  the  prehistoric  people  whom  we  see  com- 
bining with  hunting  and  fishing  the  more  difficult 
art  of  improving  a  land  which  was  subject  to  the 
caprices  of  the  floods 

The  weapons,  jewels,  and  little  figures  of  animals 
that  are  found  in  the  tombs  were  not  put  there  as  pre- 
cious knick-knacks  or  familiar  objects,  from  which 
the  deceased  did  not  wish  to  part.  Their  purpose 
was  higher;  in  Egypt,  as  elsewhere,  they  were  the 
expression  of  a  system  of  ideas,  already  formed, 
about  life  beyond  the  tomb.  No  man  believes 
more  firmly  than  the  primitive  in  the  survival, 
after  death,  of  that  indefinable  something  that 
we  call  the  soul;  this  survival  was  supposed  to  be 
a  repetition  of  the  material  life,  of  course  better 
than  the  earthly  one,  but  subject  to  the  same 
wants,  requiring  the  same  weapons  as  a  protection 
against  dangers  and  the  same  implements  for 
transmundane  labours.    Therefore,  the  dead  man 


122         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


had  within  reach  his  arms  and  tools;  near  him, 
figures  of  domestic  animals  assured  him  of  a 
supply  of  meat ;  little  figures  of  wild  beasts  neutral- 
ised the  harm  of  the  real  wild  beasts  that  might 
attack  him  in  his  tomb :  these  likenesses  being  sub- 
jected to  his  will,  gave  him  mastery,  as  it  were, 
over  lions  and  hippopotamuses.  Such  was  his 
faith  in  magic. 

Likewise,  the  vases,  the  first  models  of  an  art 
that  has  scarcely  advanced  since,  either  as  re- 
spects their  shape  or  the  process  of  making  them, 
ha  ve  a  religious  significance.  In  them  were  placed 
the  offerings.  The  bestowal  of  offerings  is  an  es- 
sential element  of  the  earliest  known  religion: 
the  funeral  cult.  At  that  time,  vases  answered 
all  the  different  needs  of  life.  They  constituted 
the  furnishings,  par  excellence:  the  deceased,  laid 
among  his  vases,  reposed  as  if  in  his  own  comfort- 
able house.  Liquid  and  solid  food,  seeds,  pro- 
visions of  all  kinds,  clothing,  sometimes  even  the 
corpses  themselves  were  deposited  in  these  vases, 
of  all  shapes  and  dimensions,  and  suitable,  there- 
fore, for  various  purposes. 

The  vases  of  hard  stone,  found  by  the  thou- 
sands in  the  tombs,  astounded  archaeologists.  No 
one  expected  to  find  among  a  people  provided 
with  such  rudimentary  tools,  cups,  plates,  goblets, 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  123 


dainty  or  massive  vessels,  cut  out  of  sandstone, 
granite,  marble,  diorite,  obsidian,  crystal,  or 
alabaster.  The  materials  used  by  the  pre- 
historic people  for  their  table  and  toilet  were 
sumptuous  enough  to  fill  one  with  wonder.  The 
valley  of  the  Nile  has  none  of  the  igneous  forma- 
tions that  produce  these  hard  stones,  except  at 
the  first  cataract,  between  Assouan  and  the  Red 
Sea.  The  places  of  extraction  were  there;  but 
certain  blocks  came  from  Sinai;  others,  such  as 
obsidian,  had  to  be  brought  from  Asia  or  even 
from  the  Greek  islands.  We  are  then  obliged  to 
admit  that  an  active  interchange  of  trade  united, 
from  the  remotest  times,  the  Nile  valley  and  the 
eastern  Mediterranean  countries. 

It  was  thought  at  first  that  the  artists  who 
manufactured  those  splendid  table  services  used 
tools  of  a  much  higher  grade,  or  at  least  wheels. 
A  minute  examination  of  the  proportions  and  a 
scrutiny  of  the  fragments,  which  threw  light  on 
the  workmanship  of  the  vases  both  inside  and 
out,  caused  M.  de  Morgan  to  change  his  opinion 
on  this  subject: 

A  careful  study  of  the  rock-crystal  vases  makes  it 
easy — thanks  to  the  transparency  of  this  material — ■ 
to  understand  the  means  employed  by  the  craftsman. 
The  shape  of  the  outside  was  given  by  rotating  the 


124         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


block  between  two  pieces  of  wood  strewn  with 
quartzite  sand;  to  hollow  out  the  interior,  the  crafts- 
man made  a  hole  in  the  centre  by  means  of  a  stick 
and  sand;  then,  to  enlarge  the  cavity  below  the  neck 
of  the  vase,  he  used  coarse  quartzite  sand  that  he 
stirred  around  inside  the  vase  with  a  simple  wooden 
stick.  The  two  processes  were  produced  separately, 
as  is  proved  by  the  unequal  thickness  resulting  from 
the  fact  that  the  axial  lines  outside  and  inside  do  not 
correspond/ 

Many  centuries  later,  the  bas-reliefs  of  the  tombs 
of  the  VI th  dynasty  (for  instance  that  of  Mera 
at  Sakkarah)  show  us  workmen  drilling  vases  by 
the  same  process.  Thus  this  splendid  crockery 
was  patiently  fashioned  out  of  hard  stone  by 
friction  and  wearing  away;  can  we  truly  realise 
the  persevering  labour  necessary  to  shape  such 
brittle  or  hard  material  as  crystal  and  diorite? 
Many  of  the  vases  exhibited  to-day  in  Cairo, 
London,  and  in  the  Musee  Guimet  represent  the 
work  of  a  lifetime! 

The  forms  are  so  varied  that  they  could  have 
been  produced  only  by  patience  combined  with 
extraordinary  technical  skill.  Here  are  a  bowl 
and  a  cup,  simple  in  outline  indeed,  but  of  pro- 
nounced beauty;  another  type  is  the  cylindrical 
vase,  generally  of  alabaster,  decorated  with  a  large 

»  De  Morgan,  Recherches,  ii,  p.  179  and  i,  p.  165. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  125 


border  and  a  little  cord  pattern  below  the  mouth; 
finally  there  are  the  globular  vases,  the  most 
remarkable  of  all.  But  aside  from  these  shapes, 
which  were  to  become  classic,  how  many  other 
models  and  unexpected  forms  of  baffling  original- 
ity! Certain  vases  are  shaped  like  a  skin  bottle, 
a  gourd,  a  goose,  a  frog,  a  dog,  a  hippopotamus, 
an  elephant.  One  of  the  oddest  is  in  the  Petrie 
collection  (University  College,  London):  "On 
the  body  of  this  vase  are  carved  in  relief  two 
heads.  The  mouth  is  indicated  by  a  strong  hori- 
zontal stroke,  and  the  eyes  by  two  beads  inserted 
in  a  hollow  of  the  stone. "  ^  No  words  can  express 
the  wretched  and  diabolical  expression  of  this 
face  which  emerges  somewhat  indistinctly  from 
the  bowl  of  the  vase ;  the  stare  of  the  round  eyes 
pierces  like  a  gimlet,  the  twisted  mouth  sneers 
pitilessly;  the  vase  seems  haunted;  therein  a 
fallen  soul  has  long  been  weeping!     (Plate  V,  3.) 

Earthenware  vessels,  infinitely  easier  to  manu- 
facture, are  more  numerous  than  those  in  hard 
stone;  they  are  found  in  all  the  tombs,  those  of 
poor  and  rich  alike,  from  neolithic  times  to  the 
Memphite  dynasties.  Messrs.  de  Morgan  and 
Petrie,  by  studying  the  material  of  which  they  are 
made,  their  forms,  and  the  process  of  making  them, 

^  J.  Capart,  Les  debuts  de  Vart  en  Egypte,  p.  77  ff. 


126         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


have  been  able  to  establish  chronological  divisions  : 
if  ceramic  types  can  be  classified  by  localities  and 
by  periods,  the  tombs,  in  which  these  successive 
types  are  found,  can  also  be  dated,  relatively  to 
one  another. 

Prehistoric  pottery  is  red  or  yellow,  smooth  or 
rough,  without  any  decoration,  or  with  patterns 
painted  or  engraved.  The  colour  depends  espe- 
cially upon  the  raw  material :  sedimentary  clay,  or 
mud  from  the  Nile.  Clay  becomes,  when  baked, 
a  vivid  red;  mud  of  the  Nile,  yellowish  or  reddish, 
according  to  the  intensity  of  the  heat  applied  to 
it  in  baking.  It  seems  that  the  most  ancient 
types  made  of  clay  must  be  the  smooth,  red  vases, 
decorated,  on  the  upper  edge,  with  a  broad  band 
of  black  varnish,  obtained  by  mixing  in  the  paste 
colouring  substances  (bioxides  of  Sinai  mangan- 
ese.)^ Then  would  follow  chronologically  the 
rough  red  vases,  then  the  reddish  or  yellowish 
fancy  pottery,  variously  decorated.  ^ 

The  choice  of  decoration  and  of  shapes  does 
credit  to  the  fancy  and  skill  of  the  potters.  The 
most  ancient  vases  were  cups,  bowls,  and  plates 

^  De  Morgan,  Recherches,  i,  p.  152. 

=  See  Petrie,  Diospolis  parva,  PI.  I.  Musee  Guimet  has  a 
fine  collection  of  prehistoric  vases,  especially  of  the  most  ancient 
type  (with  blackened  top)  and  of  the  types  found,  by  M.  Am^li- 
neau  in  the  workshop  of  El-Amrah. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  127 


with  the  tops  rounded  or  turned  over;  later  ap- 
peared cyHnders,  bottles,  and  amphoras.  The 
bottom  was  made  flat  or  pointed  when  the  vase  was 
to  be  laid  or  pitched  in  the  sand ;  handles  appeared 
only  later;  certain  workshops,  Hke  that  of  El- 
Amrah,  decorated  the  jar,  below  the  neck,  with  a 
wavy  line,  at  first  broken,  then  encircling  it  like  a 
continuous  collar.  During  the  period  of  highest 
attainment,  spherical  vases  appeared;  sometimes 
there  were  double  jars  or  three  joined  together, 
with  or  without  interior  communication.  There 
were  also  vases  with  trivets,  pitchers  with  a 
strainer  to  filter  water,  a  type  still  in  use,  as  wit- 
ness the  jugs  of  Keneh.  These  were  the  shapes 
of  the  hard-stone  vessels;  it  seems  likely  that  the 
art  of  the  potter  preceded  that  of  the  stone 
polisher;  yet,  the  designs  that  appear  on  some 
pieces  of  earthenware  pottery  were  made  in 
imitation  of  those  on  the  hard-stone  vases;  this 
proves  that  the  two  artistic  series  became  at  an 
early  date  contemporaries,  and  were  developed 
side  by  side. 

The  process  of  making  pottery  is  simple  and  is 
dependent  entirely  on  the  trained  eye  and  the 
skilled  hand.  The  forms  were  of  very  nearly 
perfect  regularity,  yet  want  of  symmetry  in  the 
layers  and  in  the  thickness  may  be  detected  here 


128         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


and  there,  showing  unmistakably  that  this  pot- 
tery was  shaped  by  hand.  Certain  vases,  in  the 
form  of  amphorae,  were  decorated  from  top  to 
bottom  with  furrows  made  before  the  baking 
by  indenting  with  the  finger.  Later,  the  addition 
of  carving  and  painting  produced  a  more  elaborate 
decoration.  On  red  vases,  geometrical  designs, 
painted  in  white  lines,  reproduced  plaiting- work 
and  patterns  of  baskets  dating  from  the  beginnings 
of  the  neolithic  civilisation.  At  the  same  period 
appeared  black  vases,  incised  with  geometrical 
patterns,  and  filled  with  a  whitish  substance;  "it 
has  been  stated  that  they  were  imported  into 
Egypt  from  an  unknown  manufacturing  centre, 
the  productions  of  which  are  to  be  met  with  in 
all  Mediterranean  countries. 

The  increasing  skill  of  the  craftsmen  made 
possible  a  greater  variety  of  types.  The  animal- 
shaped  pottery  (Plate  V,  5),  including  representa- 
tions of  fishes,  ducks,  hawks,  and  hippopotamuses,  ^ 
composed  table-services  of  an  amusing  or  hideous 
aspect,  similar  to  the  brass- wares  and  French 
dinanderie  of  the  Middle  Ages.  Attempts  were 
also  made  to  reproduce  the  human  face :  a  very 
ancient  amphora,  preserved  in  Oxford,  shows 

'  De  Morgan,  Recherches,  ii,  p.  122. 

a  J.  Capart,  Les  debuts  de  Vart  en  Egypte,  p.  126. 


I.  II. 


III.  IV. 

I.    Prehistoric  Ceramics.     (Cliche  of  Morgan.) 
II.    Woman-shaped  V^ase.    (J.  Capart:  Debuts  de  Vart  en  Egypte.) 

III.  Vase  with  Human  Face. 

IV.  Bird-shaped  Vase.     (J.  Capart:  Debuts  de  Vart  en  Egypte.) 

Plate  V. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  129 


crouching  captives  (?)  encircling  with  their  arms 
the  bowl  of  the  vase,  from  which  protrude  their 
woebegone  faces,  carved  in  relief.  In  the  same 
Museum  (Ashmoleum),  there  is  a  large  vase 
with  a  brilliant  black  covering,  which  is  an  instance 
of  an  attempt  to  model  the  feminine  form.  The 
mouth  of  the  vase  represents  the  face;  a  pinching 
of  the  clay  indicates  the  nose,  the  ears,  and  the 
hair ;  the  neck  of  the  vase  forms  the  bust  and  thin 
waist,  and  on  it  are  represented,  too,  the  round 
shoulders  and  drooping  breasts,  of  succinct  model- 
ling; then,  the  bowl  bulges  out  abruptly,  in  imita- 
tion of  the  fatty  development  of  the  Hottentot 
Venus.  ^    (Plate  V,  2.) 

The  decoration  of  the  most  remarkable  vases  of 
the  prehistoric  period  give  us  an  idea  of  the  views 
entertained  by  these  people  of  the  life  beyond  the 
grave.  Even  the  rough  jars  show,  by  their  con- 
tents, now  dried  up,  including  water,  flour,  seeds, 
oil,  wine,  and  meat,  that  offerings  ensured  the 
nourishment  of  the  deceased.  Again,  to  secure 
for  him  a  second  existence,  resembling  exactly 
the  first,  the  essential  episodes  of  this  life  had  to 
be  represented  in  the  house  of  the  dead,  that  is, 
the  tomb :  according  to  a  well-known  principle  of 
primitive  magic,  like  produces  like ;  to  represent  a 

^  J.  Capart,  Les  debuts  de  Vart  en  Egypte,  p.  124. 

9 


130         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


scene  of  life  is,  therefore,  to  make  it  happen  again. 
It  is  this  idea  which  gave  rise  to  the  practice  of 
decorating  the  tomb,  a  custom  responsible  for 
practically  all  Egyptian  art. 

A  difficulty  arose  when  it  was  necessary  to 
decorate  with  figures  and  pictures  just  such  a 
tomb  as  we  have  described  above:  a  simple  pit  in 
the  sand,  without  floor,  walls,  or  ceiling.  One 
attempted  to  overcome  it  by  placing  in  the  tomb 
the  usual  objects,  weapons,  jewels,  tools,  when 
they  were  of  small  size;  people  and  beasts,  neces- 
sary for  the  pleasure  or  the  service  of  the  deceased, 
were  represented  by  small  figures.  But  this  did 
not  meet  all  the  requirements  of  the  dead:  these 
separate  elements  had  to  be  grouped  together  so  as 
to  reconstitute  scenes  from  life,  the  perpetuation 
of  which  was  desired  in  the  life  to  come:  hence 
the  invention  of  decorative  pictures,  in  which 
each  figure  played  the  role  of  an  ideogram,  and 
expressed  a  particular  moment  of  existence, 
promised  to  the  dweller  of  the  tomb.  Women 
with  raised  arms  symboHsed  dancing  and  public 
festivals ;  a  gazelle  or  an  ostrich  recalled  the  plea- 
sures of  the  hunt;  a  barge,  navigation  on  the  Nile; 
trees  and  flowers  gave,  in  miniature,  some  land- 
scape of  the  cultivated  valley;  a  series  of  rough 
triangles  represented  the  ranges  of  desert  uplands 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  131 


over  which  the  nomads  were  wandering ;  huts,  with 
a  signal  on  the  top,  designated  the  house  or  the 
village  of  the  deceased  with  the  ensign  of  his  clan. 

After  choosing  their  decorative  designs,  the 
artists  seem  to  have  been  uncertain  as  to  the  best 
way  of  presenting  them.  For  instance,  there  is 
a  statuette  of  a  woman  of  Toukh  on  whose  breast, 
back,  and  hips  are  depicted  streams  of  water, 
mountains,  and  animals.  This  was,  indeed,  a 
unique  way  of  representing  a  statue  surrounded  by 
active  life  in  the  midst  of  nature;  but  such  rudi- 
mentary devices  were  later  improved  upon.  The 
idea  was  seized  upon  of  decorating  pottery  with 
scenic  representations  painted  red  on  a  light 
background:  the  corpse,  surrounded  by  vases,  as 
though  by  the  four  walls  of  his  house,  could  con- 
template, on  the  sides  of  these  vases,  the  scenes 
he  desired  to  have  happen  in  his  life  beyond  the 
tomb.  Later,  when  brick  was  invented  and  when 
the  art  of  construction  had  been  perfected,  the 
walls  were  made  use  of  by  decorators.  A  pre- 
historic tomb,  discovered  by  M.  Green  at  Hiera- 
konpolis,  bears  in  red,  upon  a  limestone  coated 
background,  the  same  scenes  of  dancing,  hunting, 
and  navigation  as  those  decorating  the  vases 
made  by  the  potters  of  Abydos  or  Negadeh. ' 

^  Quibell,  Hierakonpolis,  ii,  PI.  75-79. 


132         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


These  diminutive  pictures,  which  retrace  a  few 
aspects  of  social  life,  fifty  or  sixty  centuries  ago, 
have  aroused  the  curiosity  of  the  archseologists. 
They  are  far  from  agreeing  upon  the  precise 
signification  of  the  episodes:  one  design,  especially, 
has  called  forth  the  most  diverse  interpretations. 
It  presents  what  appears  to  be  two  huts,  often 
connected  by  a  door,  and  encircled  by  a  double 
line  ciu-ving  inward  in  the  form  of  a  boat ;  vertical 
or  slanting  lines,  like  a  compact  row  of  oars,  extend 
from  one  end  of  the  ship  to  the  other.  Trees, 
gazelles,  ostriches,  and  human  silhouettes,  scat- 
tered capriciously  over  the  whole,  increase  the 
enigmatic  aspect  of  the  composition.  Messrs. 
Petrie  and  de  Morgan — whose  opinion  is  still 
shared  by  the  majority  of  scholars — think  the 
objects  represented  are  boats  furnished  with  oars 
and  cabins;  Cecil  Torr  and  M.  Loret'  are  of  the 
opinion  that  in  this  case  is  depicted  a  village  with 
a  fortified  gate,  protected  by  a  semicircular  en- 
trenchment, itself  fortified  by  a  palisade.  The 
variants  furnished  by  the  tomb  of  Hierakonpolis, 
the  grafiiti  of  El-Kab,  and  certain  vases,  mentioned 
by  M.  von  Bissing,  lead  me  to  the  conclusion  that 
such  figures  represent  boats,  with  or  without 
rowers.    There  is  nothing  astonishing  in  the  fact 

^  Revue  Egyptologique,  x,  p.  87  ff. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  133 


that,  already  in  this  period,  a  boat  may  have 
symboHsed  the  human  habitation  in  the  Nile 
valley;  in  historic  times,  we  see  that  the  naos  of 
the  gods  and  of  the  dead  is  placed  preferably  in  the 
cabin  of  a  barge;  the  ark  was  the  ideal,  moveable 
house,  always  within  reach  of  the  water,  that 
primordial  element  of  African  civilisation. 

Be  they  barges,  or  villages,  the  objects  above 
mentioned  are  decorated  with  high  staffs  bearing 
an  ensign:  sometimes  it  is  an  animal,  a  hawk,  an 
elephant,  a  scorpion,  a  fish ;  sometimes,  a  feather, 
a  bucrane,  a  double  arrow,  a  harpoon;  there  are 
about  thirty  difTerent  ensigns  in  all.  M.  Loret 
has  very  cleverly  identified  them  as  the  ensigns 
of  the  clans  of  the  prehistoric  race,  of  which  a 
part  survived  in  the  classic  time  as  ''armorial 
bearings"  of  the  Egyptian  cities.  It  is  possible 
that  those  ensigns  were  at  the  same  time  gods, 
or  totems,  incarnating  the  souls  of  all  the  men 
belonging  to  the  clan. 

The  figures,  decorating  the  vases,  are  interesting 
from  another  point  of  view :  they  throw  light  on  the 
disputed  question  of  the  writing  in  that  period. 
The  prehistoric  people  seem  not  to  have  known 
the  Egyptian  graphic  system,  which  implies 
alphabetic  or  syllabic  characters,  used  along  with 
ideographic  signs.    There  is  no  doubt,  however, 


134         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


that  the  hieroglyphic  writing  of  later  times 
retained  a  large  number  of  signs  which  appear  on 
vases ;  animals  and  plants,  peculiar  to  the  Egyptian 
country,  helped  to  give  a  real  African  stamp  to 
the  Pharaonic  writing.  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  prehistoric  people,  though  they  had  not 
yet  mastered  the  art  of  writing,  could  express 
themselves  by  the  aid  of  rebuses,  arranged  in 
some  vague  system,  and  that  the  paintings  on  the 
vases  could  be  read  grosso  modo  about  like  a 
charade  in  pictures  (PI.  V,  i). 

Besides,  the  vases  of  that  period  bear  a  series  of 
*' trademarks"  which  assume  exactly  the  appear- 
ance of  alphabetic  signs.  It  was  a  great  surprise  to 
identify  these  signs  with  those  found  on  the  vases 
of  the  Crete-^gean  cemeteries  and  with  the  primi- 
tive alphabets  of  Caria  and  Spain,  also  with 
Libyan  signs.  These  marks,  moreover,  to  all 
appearances  do  not  form  an  alphabet,  and  are 
never  grouped  according  to  a  regular  system,  so  as 
to  express  fully  developed  ideas.  Nevertheless,  it 
does  seem  certain  that  ''there  was  all  along  the 
Mediterranean,  from  prehistoric  times,  some 
system  of  writing,  or,  at  least,  of  marks,  that  was 
in  common  use."'  What  people  brought  into 
Egypt  this  compendious  graphic  system? 

*  J.  Capart,  Les  origines  de  Vart  en  Egypte,  p.  142. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  135 


The  reply  to  this  question  is  involved  in  the 
solution  of  another  problem :  what  is  the  probable 
origin  of  the  prehistoric  race  settled  in  Egypt? 
According  to  Doctor  Fouquet,  the  cephalic  in- 
dication of  the  skulls,  found  in  the  most  ancient 
tombs,  brings  the  race  of  Negadeh  into  close 
relationship  with  the  Hottentots  and  Kaffirs; 
the  type  of  Beit-Allam  would  be  akin  to  that  of 
the  populations  of  North  India,  and  the  Kawamil 
type  would  bear  analogy  with  the  Libyan  ele- 
ment. This  chequered  statement  is  less  discon- 
certing than  it  appears  to  be  at  first  sight.  The 
influence  of  a  Berber-Libyan  race  is  attested  by 
the  decorated  pottery  (which  exhibits  types  of 
vases  still  in  use  to-day  among  the  Kabyls),  by 
the  use  of  certain  implements,  such  as  flint  plough- 
shares, and  by  the  arrangement  of  stones  in  a 
circle,  for  forming  dolmens. '  Besides,  the  Egyptian 
language  shows  traces  of  Berber  dialects.  As  for 
the  steatopygous  statuettes,  they  indicate  the 
presence  of  a  group  of  Hottentot  origin  in  the 
neolithic  race;  the  black  vases  with  white  decora- 
tion bear  witness  to  relations  with  Asia  and  the 
islands.  In  short,  the  prehistoric  race  seems  to  be 
a  pretty  mixture.  One  fact  is  sure:  these  varie- 
gated elements  were  rather  quickly  amalgamated, 

^  De  Morgan,  Recherches,  i,  p.  239. 


136         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


after  the  invasion  of  a  conquering  population, 
by  which  they  became  gradually  absorbed. 

While  Messrs.  Petrie  and  de  Morgan  were  dis- 
interring the  prehistoric  race,  M.  Amelineau  was 
discovering  at  Abydos  dated  tombs,  by  the  aid 
of  which  the  age  of  the  monuments  without  in- 
scriptions could  be  determined. 

It  was  in  November,  1895,  that  M.  Amelineau 
began  his  excavations  on  the  site  of  Abydos'  with 
the  approval  of  the  Service  des  Antiquites.  The 
result  was  not  encouraging  until  his  diggers  reached, 
at  the  entrance  of  a  gorge  leading  to  the  Libyan 
desert,  the  necropolis  called  Om-el-Gaab.  The 
name  is  picturesque  and  means  "the  mother  of 
vases."  Five  mounds  were  there,  covered  with  a 
great  quantity  of  very  coarse  red  pottery,  and 
fragments  of  hard-stone  vases,  the  interest  of 
which,  in  1895,  was  hardly  known. 

The  first  three  mounds  yielded  two  hundred 
small  tombs,  dug  deep  in  the  subsoil,  and  walled 
up  with  brick;  the  skeletons  were  laid  on  their 
sides,  in  a  contracted  posture.  M.  Amelineau, 
who  had  at  first  neglected  these  tombs,  heard  from 
Messrs.  Petrie  and  de  Morgan  that  similar  sepul- 

^  E.  Amelineau,  Les  nouvelles  fouilles  d' Abydos,  threehrochuTes 
in  8vo  and  five  volumes  in  4to. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  137 


chres  had  been  found  in  Negadeh,  and  that  these 
were  thought  to  date  from  very  remote  times;  so 
he  began,  in  March,  1896,  special  excavations  at 
El-Amrah,  where  one  of  the  most  important  pre- 
historic cemeteries  came  to  hght.  Beside  the 
small  tombs  appeared  two  large  brick  tombs, 
twenty-seven  feet  by  fifteen ;  one  of  the  fragments 
of  alabaster  and  hard -stone  vases  found  there 
bore  a  hawk  perched  on  a  rectangle.  This  figure 
indicated  the  presence  of  a  royal  name,  but  un- 
fortunately a  crack  had  separated  it  from  the 
hieroglyphics.  Around  the  fourth  mound,  there 
were  many  small  brick  tombs,  the  most  beautiful 
of  which  were  floored  with  boards,  fastened  to  one 
another  by  copper  wires.  An  immense  archaic 
necropolis  was  there:  the  principal  monuments, 
surrounded  by  a  number  of  smaller  tombs,  were 
to  be  found  in  the  centre. 

Some  days  after,  M.  Amelineau  discovered  a 
structure  forty-six  feet  long,  twenty-four  feet  wide, 
and  eighteen  feet  high.  The  brick  walls  were  over 
twelve  feet  thick;  a  stairway  of  forty- two  steps 
led  down  to  the  interior,  which  was  paved  with 
pink  granite.  On  a  granite  mortar  and  on  clay 
stoppers  was  read  the  name  of  the  king,  Den,  the 
first  archaic  king  thus  brought  to  light  after 
thousands  of  years.    Not  far  away,  a  second  tomb, 


138         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


with  a  wooden  flooring  from  which  rose  pillars 
at  intervals,  revealed,  on  a  granite  stela,  the  name 
of  the  king  Qa.  Parallel  with  this  was  the  tomb, 
made  of  brick  and  wood,  of  King  Mersekh; 
finally,  there  appeared  a  fourth  structure  com- 
posed of  a  central  room  and  little  cells,  full  of 
vases  and  stelae,  bearing  the  names  of  individuals ; 
in  the  centre  stood  a  splendid  limestone  stela, 
which,  though  it  had  been  broken  into  three  pieces, 
had  preserved  unmutilated  the  name  of  the  king: 
a  large  serpent,  which  we  read  as  Zet.' 

In  short,  M.  Amelineau's  investigations  during 
1895-96  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  four  tombs 
of  the  kings  Den,  Qa,  Mersekh,  and  Zet;  but  on 
the  fragments  of  vases,  collected  here  and  there, 
twelve  other  royal  names  appeared,  among  which 
were  those  of  Aha,  Narmer,  and  Merbapen,  names 
unknown  until  then.  These  M.  Amelineau  could 
not  make  out  but  they  were  deciphered  and  identi- 
fied two  years  after  the  discovery. 

*'And  now,  to  what  period  must  these  curious 
monuments  be  assigned?"  said  M.  Amelineau 
before  the  Academy  of  Inscriptions  and  Belles- 
Lettres,  at  the  meeting  of  May  29,  1896.  After 

^  This  stela  offered  for  sale,  a  few  years  ago,  was  acquired  by 
the  Louvre,  after  lively  competition  with  Berlin,  for  the  price  of 
100,000  francs. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  139 


having  established  the  fact  that  the  objects  dis- 
covered were  of  a  very  archaic  type,  he  continued : 

Our  impulse  would  be  to  attribute  them  to  the  first 
dynasties.  .  .  .  But  the  first  two  dynasties  do  not 
present  a  single  name  resembling  the  sixteen  that  we 
possess ;  .  .  .  consequently  we  are  led  back  to  an  epoch 
that  preceded  the  first  two  dynasties.  Manetho  men- 
tions, previously  to  the  1st  dynasty,  the  Nekyes, 
who  reigned  over  Egypt,  and  also  demi-gods.  These 
"Dead"  or  these  "Shades"  are  perhaps  not  divine 
dynasties,  as  has  been  believed,  but  rather  the  kings 
whose  names  I  found  in  the  tombs  I  explored  at 
Abydos.^ 

It  is  obvious  to  what  this  argumentation  leads. 
According  to  a  tradition  recorded  on  the  royal 
papyrus  of  Turin,  and  confirmed  by  Manetho  and 
Diodorus,  the  Pharaohs  were  preceded  by  gods, 
demi-gods,  and  "Shades."  Does  the  legend  con- 
ceal some  historic  fact?  Did  the  would-be  gods, 
demi-gods,  and  "Shades'* really  exist,  as  Diodorus 
states,  under  the  form  of  men  whom  their  success- 
ors, through  piety  or  to  exalt  their  dynasty, 
promoted  to  the  rank  of  gods?  M.  Maspero 
rejected  this  theory. 

I  am  convinced  [he  declared]  that  there  exist 
monuments  erected  before  the  time  of  Menes  [the 
first  king  of  Egypt,  according  to  Manetho  and  the 

'  Am^lineau,  Les nouvelles  fouilles d'Abydos,  1896,  in  8vo,  p.  23. 


140         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Pharaonic  lists].  .  .  .  Yet  before  admitting  that  the 
discoveries  of  M.  AmeHneau  belong  to  this  category, 
I  should  like  him  to  furnish  some  proof,  even  just  one 
tangible  piece  of  evidence,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
attribute  them  either  to  the  first  three  dynasties,  or 
to  the  Vllth,  VII Ith,  IXth,  and  Xth  dynasties  when 
the  majority  of  the  kings  are  still  deprived  of  their  Horus 
names. 

M.  Amelineau  had,  indeed,  not  considered  this 
hypothesis:  perhaps  the  names  discovered  were 
mere  duplicates  of  those  given  by  the  royal 
lists ;  it  might  be  admitted  that  the  Pharaohs  bore 
from  the  archaic  period  a  "Horus  name"  dif- 
ferent from  the  ' '  royal  name. ' '  ^  Thus  might  be  ex- 
plained the  fact  that  the  names  found  at  Abydos 
are  not  found  on  the  official  lists:  the  latter  give 
the  "royal  names,"  v^hile  the  monuments  had 
furnished,  up  to  this  time,  only  the  "Horus 
names."  We  know  to-day  that  this  hypothesis 
was  justified.  We  have  ascertained  the  use  of 
two  names  for  the  same  Pharaoh  (in  the  case  of 

^  The  "Horus  name "  of  the  Pharaohs  is  inscribed  in  a  rectangle 
decorated  at  its  base  with  the  diagram  of  a  simple  or  double  door, 
representing  the  plan  of  the  palace  where  resides  the  corporal 
soul,  the  Double  or  Genie  of  the  king,  i.e.,  the  tomb.  That  is 
why  this  name  is  also  called  the  name  of  the  Double.  On  the 
rectangle  is  perched  a  hawk,  symbolic  of  the  god  Horus  with 
whom  the  king  is  identified;  whence  the  expression  "Horus  name." 
As  to  the  "royal  name,"  generally  differing  from  the  "Horus 
name, "  it  is  preceded  by  the  reed  and  the  bee,  or  by  the  vulture 
and  the  urseus;  in  classic  times,  it  is  inscribed  in  an  oval  cartouche. 


'Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  141 


many  kings)  by  examining  the  fragments  of  vases, 
found  by  M.  Amelineau  himself  or  by  others,  and 
we  have  been  able  to  bring  into  accord  the  testi- 
mony of  the  lists  and  of  Manetho  and  that  given 
by  the  monuments. 

But,  in  1896,  M.  Amelineau  persisted  in  his 
opinion  on  this  point ;  though  Manetho  points  out 
that  the  kings  of  the  first  two  dynasties  were  from 
Thinis,  the  scholar  who  had  discovered  their 
tombs  did  not  wish  to  admit  that  they  contained 
the  remains  of  the  earliest  Pharaohs.  Hence  the 
preconceived  ideas  which  guided  the  investigator 
in  his  excavations  of  1897-99  the  inter- 

pretation of  their  results. 

The  campaign  of  1896-97,  waged  aroimd  the 
fourth  mound,  yielded  an  immense  tomb,  244 
feet  long  divided  into  sixty-five  rooms  abundantly 
provided  with  funeral  furnishings.  The  royal 
name  stamped  upon  jar-stoppers  presented  a  new 
peculiarity:  instead  of  the  hawk,  Horus,  there 
were,  facing  or  following  each  other,  a  hawk  and  a 
greyhound.  Inside  the  tomb  was  a  name,  which 
at  first  seemed  to  read  Ti,  but  of  which  M.  Mas- 
pero  gave  the  correct  reading  later :  Khasekhemui. 
M.  Amelineau  believed  that  the  two  animals 
stood  for  a  double  name  and  consequently  that 
two  kings  were  alluded  to.    This  tomb  seemed  to 


14^         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


him  still  earlier  than  the  preceding  four;  these  two 
kings,  then,  ought,  according  to  this  reasoning, 
to  belong  to  the  dynasty  of  the  gods  that  preceded 
the  dynasty  of  the  ''Shades." 

Nevertheless,  he  was  very  much  disappointed: 
he  thought  he  had  found  the  tomb  of  the  most 
popular  of  those  kingly  gods,  i.e.,  Osiris,  the  later 
patron  of  Abydos,  "and  now  the  inscriptions 
mentioned  two  gods,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  in  order  that  his  hope  might  be  realised,  only 
one  god  could  be  provided  for. " 

The  following  year  (1897-98),  the  fourth  mound 
being  cleared  in  its  turn  yielded  a  quantity  of 
debris,  of  recent  times,  with  dedications  to 
Osiris :  was  he  then  approaching  the  famous  tomb 
of  Osiris  which  tradition  located  at  Abydos? 
Three  conditions,  according  to  M.  Amelineau, 
would  have  to  be  fulfilled  before  the  monument 
could  be  identified  with  the  tomb  of  Osiris:  tradi- 
tion mentioned  in  the  first  place  numerous  tombs 
or  stelae  erected  all  around  it;  then  a  stairway, 
equally  famous,  leading  to  the  cofiin;  finally,  an 
illustrious  relic,  the  head  of  Osiris,  that  was  to  be 
found  there  in  a  shrine.  What  was  foimd  in  fact, 
in  January,  1898,  was,  in  the  midst  of  numer- 
ous tombs,  a  brick  structure,  thirty-six  feet  by 
thirty-six  to  which  a  stairway  led.    It  was  full  of 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  143 


enormous  jars;  near  the  south  wall  was  a  funeral 
bed  of  granite,  five  and  a  half  feet  long,  on  which 
was  lying  Osiris,  draped  in  his  shroud,  mitred, 
and  holding  in  his  hand  a  sceptre  and  a  whip. 
Near  the  right  shoulder  could  be  read  his  name: 

Osiris,  the  good  being,  with  the  creative  voice." 
At  his  head  and  at  his  feet,  four  hawks  kept  watch: 
the  gods  "Horus  who  protect  their  father";  a 
fifth  bird,  Isis  (Osiris's  wife),  rested  upon  the  body 
of  her  husband.  All  around  the  bed  was  an  in- 
scription reading  "Osiris  Khontamenti,  the  lord 
of  Abydos."  The  name  of  the  donor  king  was 
found  hammered  out  and  is  still  illegible,  but  the 
arrangement  of  the  royal  protocol  and  the  style 
of  the  monument  do  not  warrant  us  in  dating  it 
earlier  than  the  first  Theban  Empire  (about  2000 
B.C.),  and  it  may  be  much  more  recent. 

But  M.  Amelineau  did  not  doubt  that  this  was 
Osiris 's  tomb,  and  he  still  refers  to  this  monument 
by  that  name:  of  course,  as  he  said,  the  funeral 
bed  was  not  of  true  ancient  style,  but  a  later  king 
might  have  renewed  the  original  cenotaph.  To 
clinch  the  argument,  the  fragment  of  only  one 
skeleton  was  found,  a  skull,  which  "must  have 
been  the  skull  of  Osiris." 

This  later  proof  seemed  decisive  in  identifying 
the  tomb  of  the  god-king.    It  carried  with  it  the 


144         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


consequence  that  the  monument,  discovered  in 
the  preceding  year,  which  mentioned  two  gods, 
must  have  belonged  to  Osiris's  successors,  his 
brother  Set,  who  put  him  to  death,  and  his  son 
Horus,  who  avenged  him.  The  royal  name,  pre- 
ceded by  the  greyhound  of  Set  and  the  hawk  of 
Horus,  represented  Set  and  Horus  reconciled  and 
sharing  Egypt,  a  statement  in  accordance  with 
the  traditions  relating  to  the  divine  dynasties. 
Thus  was  established  the  theory  that  "caused  the 
divine  dynasties  to  enter  abruptly  into  history." 

To-day  this  theory  has  no  longer  any  supporters. 
It  is  admitted  that  the  funeral  bed  is  a  commem- 
orative monument,  of  recent  style,  renewing 
perhaps  a  more  ancient  cenotaph.  As  early  as 
1898,  M.  Maspero  suggested  that  the  place  where 
Osiris  lay  "might  have  been  originally  the  tomb 
of  some  sovereign  of  the  Thinite  dynasties.'* 
The  jars  found  there  are,  indeed,  stamped  with  the 
name  of  a  new  Horus:  the  King  Zer,  who  was 
the  real  owner  of  the  tomb,  which  became  later 
the  seat  of  an  Osirian  chapel.  As  for  the  "skull 
of  Osiris,"  it  was  proved,  on  examination  by  a 
specialist,  "not  to  be  the  skull  of  a  man."  The 
double  title  indicated  by  the  hawk  and  the  grey- 
hound, which  represented,  according  to  M.  Ameli- 
neau,  "Horus  and  Set,"  certainly  has  an  historic 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  145 


explanation.  It  was  one  of  the  developed  names 
assumed  by  the  Pharaoh,  as  successor  of  the  divine 
dynasties.  Formerly,  Horus  and  Set  had  divided 
Egypt  among  themselves;  Pharaoh  thus  reigned 
over  the  two  halves  of  the  country  and  bore  the 
names  of  his  two  divine  ancestors.  Sometimes 
the  queens  received  the  following  name,  which 
explains  the  whole  allegory:  "she  who  sees  her 
Horus  and  her  Set,"  that  is  to  say,  the  king  who 
has  succeeded  them.  For  historians,  Osiris's 
tomb  is  only  Zer's  tomb;  the  tomb  of  "Horus 
and  Set"  that  of  the  King  Khasekhemui.  The 
monuments  brought  to  light  by  M.  Amelineau 
have  lost  nothing  of  their  great  interest;  on  the 
contrary,  they  have  acquired  a  new  dignity  in 
passing  from  the  world  of  fable  into  the  world  of 
reality. 

Historic  ground  was  finally  struck  upon  by  M. 
Amelineau  himself,  in  his  last  excavations.  An 
edifice  was  found  divided  into  chambers,  that  had 
still  their  ceilings  of  rafters,  and  stone  and  copper 
vases,  stelffi,  and  jar-stoppers.  The  name  stamped 
on  them  was  that  of  the  King  Perabsen,  whose 
name  had  previously  been  found  on  a  stela  pre- 
served at  Cairo,  where  it  appears  side  by  side  with 
that  of  King  Sondou,  whom  the  lists  place  in 

the  I  Id  human  dynasty.     The  fifth  mound  of 

10 


146         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Om-el-Gaab  yielded  nothing  of  importance,  but 
the  discovery  of  Perabsen's  monument  left  no 
doubt  as  to  what  interpretation  should  be  given  to 
the  monuments  unearthed  by  M.  Amelineau's 
excavations:  the  kings  buried  at  Abydos  ought 
to  be  identified  with  the  Pharaohs  of  the  Thinite 
dynasties. 

A  confirmation  of  these  results  was  obtained 
about  the  same  time  in  other  parts  of  Egypt. 
M.  de  Morgan  had  been  much  interested  in  the 
excavations  at  Abydos,  because  they  are  the  link 
between  the  documents  of  the  neolithic  age  and 
the  historic  period,  and  he  was  the  first  to  publish 
the  royal  names  found  by  M.  Amelineau.  He 
himself  cleared,  in  March,  1897,  near  the  neolithic 
stations  of  B alias  and  Toukh,  between  Abydos 
and  Thebes,  the  remains  of  a  monument  that 
seemed  to  him  contemporary  with  the  Abydos 
edifices.  It  was  a  rectangle,  163  feet  long  by  81 
feet  wide,  carefully  built,  containing  a  central 
room,  in  which  were  found  the  fragments  of  a 
calcinated  skeleton;  and  sixteen  adjoining  rooms, 
full  of  vases  and  objects  of  all  kinds,  the  enumera- 
tion of  which  required  over  four  pages  in  his  report. 
All  these  were  found  on  the  floor  of  the  rooms, 
under  a  thick  bed  of  ashes;  the  entire  tomb  has 
been,  like  several  tombs  at  Abydos,  set  on  fire. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  147 


and  such  was  the  heat  that  it  vitrified  vases  of 
granite,  porphyry,  and  clay,  and  calcinated  brick 
walls  sixteen  inches  thick.  The  jars,  in  which 
had  been  placed  food  and  other  objects,  were 
stamped  with  the  name  of  King  Aha,  already 
known  from  fragments  found  at  Abydos.  These 
discoveries,  by  which  the  field  of  ancient  history 
was  so  enlarged,  were  discussed  in  the  meeting 
of  the  Congress  of  Orientalists  in  Paris,  September, 
1897.  One  of  the  younger  Egyptologists  of 
Germany,  Kurt  Sethe  (to-day  a  professor  at 
Gottingen),  announced  on  that  occasion  that  he 
had  been  able  to  decipher  on  the  fragments  of 
vases  published  by  M.  Amelineau,  the  ''royal 
names"  of  three  kings  of  the  1st  dynasty,  such 
as  are  given  by  the  Pharaonic  lists;  until  then, 
these  names,  corresponding  to  "Miebais,  Ousa- 
phais  and  Semempses, "  mentioned  by  Manetho, 
had  escaped  Egyptologists,  because  they  were 
disguised  in  archaic  writing.  A  few  weeks  later, 
M.  Maspero  proposed  the  identification  of  Menes 
with  a  hieroglyphic  sign  Men,  preceded  by  royal 
titles,  and  placed  next  to  the  Horus  name  Aha, 
on  an  ivory  plate  covered  with  enigmatic  figures.  ^ 

^  This  plate  was  found  broken  into  pieces,  and  about  one  third 
of  it  was  missing.  In  1905,  M.  Garstang,  returning  to  the  site 
of  Negadeh  and  passing  through  a  sieve  all  the  earth  removed, 
fortunately  found  the  missing  fragment  of  the  plate. 


148         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


At  the  same  time,  M.  Borchardt  was  giving  the 
same  reading  before  the  BerHn  Academy  (Novem- 
ber 25,  1897).  This  identification  has  not  been 
accepted  by  all  Egyptologists,  for  technical 
reasons  too  long  to  be  explained  here.  As  the 
cartouche  of  Aha  appeared  at  Abydos,  it  was 
assumed  that  the  kings  of  Abydos  were  the  succes- 
sors of  the  king  of  Negadeh,  Aha-Menes,  a  con- 
clusion which  is  supported  by  the  identifications 
established  by  M.  Sethe.  At  any  rate,  by  the 
end  of  1897,  Messrs.  Amelineau  and  de  Morgan 
had  found,  at  least,  four  kings  of  the  1st  dynasty 
(Manetho  gives  eight),  and  perhaps  the  fabulous 
Menes,  the  first  of  the  Pharaohs. 

These  unhoped-for  results  were  completed  by 
the  excavations  of  M.  Quibell  on  one  of  the  most 
ancient  sites  known  in  Egypt:  HierakonpoHs,  the 
city  of  Hawks,  half-way  between  Thebes  and 
Elephantine.  ^  Under  the  ruins  of  a  shrine  of  the 
Xllth  dynasty,  there  appeared  a  group  of  five 
small  brick  rooms,  where  lay  a  large  quantity 
of  votive  offerings,  belonging  to  the  period  of  the 
first  dynasties;  most  of  them  bore  the  name  of  a 
King  Narmer,  already  discovered  on  fragments 
from  Abydos.  The  names  of  the  so-called  kings, 
Horus-Set  and  Khasekhemui,  adorned  splendid 

^Quibell,  HierakonpoHs,  i,  1901;  ii,  1902. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  149 


granite  door-jambs ;  two  statues  bore  the  cartouche 
of  a  new  king,  Khasekhem ;  other  objects  belonged 
to  different  periods,  down  to  the  Vlth  dynasty. 
The  collection  was  of  exceptional  beauty,  being 
probably  a  series  of  choice  pieces,  deposited  as 
"ex-voto"  in  the  temple. 

The  number  of  royal  names  kept  on  increasing. 
M.  Petrie  added  to  it  when  he  undertook  exca- 
vations at  Abydos  (i 899-1 900),  on  the  very  site 
worked  over  and  then  abandoned  by  M.  Ameli- 
neau.  All  the  earth  cleared  was  passed  through 
a  sieve,  the  structures  were  re-examined,  the 
mounds  searched  again  with  painstaking  care. 
Two  new  structures  appeared;  in  one  lay  a  large 
stela,  on  which  was  inscribed  the  name  of  a  queen 
Merit-Neit,  probably  the  wife  of  Aha;  the  other 
seems  to  have  belonged  to  the  king  Anz-4b.  But 
M.  Petrie's  chief  acquisitions  were  jar-stoppers, 
ivory  plates,  and  fragments  of  vases  bearing  royal 
names,  not  collected  by  his  predecessor.  The  leg- 
ends engraved  on  these  documents  indicated  that 
the  "Horus  names"  Den,  Anz-ab,  and  Mersekh 
belonged  to  the  same  personages  as  the  "royal 
names"  already  identified  by  M.  Sethe:  those  of 
Miebais,  Ousaphais,  Semempses.  ^  These  six  names, 

^  Fl.  Petrie,  The  Royal  Tombs  at  Abydos,  i,  1899;  ii,  1901; 
Abydos,  i-iii,  1902-5. 


I50  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


then,  are  borne  by  only  three  Pharaohs.  On  the 
other  hand,  many  Horns  names,  unknown  until 
then,  appeared  at  the  same  time,  so  that,  after 
having  deplored  the  absolute  dearth  of  documents 
about  the  first  dynasties,  Egyptologists  now  are 
overwhelmed  and  perplexed  by  the  abundance  of 
royal  names,  which  outnumber  those  furnished  by 
the  lists  of  the  classic  period.^  What  conclusion 
shall  we  draw?  This  seems  the  most  plausible: 
that  the  scribes  who  drew  up  the  historical  lists 
either  did  not  know  all  the  names  we  have  found, 
or  else  made  a  selection  among  them,  without 
telling  us  the  reasons  for  their  choice. 

Since  1900,  this  rush  of  discoveries  has  subsided 
into  a  slow  but  regular  advance.  Few  are  the 
names  that  have  since  then  been  brought  to 
light,  but  new  finds  can  always  be  expected.  At 
any  rate  another  misconception  has  been  dispelled  : 
it  can  no  longer  be  maintained  that  the  kings  of 
the  first  dynasties  were  confined  to  a  few  restricted 
sections  of  Egypt.  The  excavations  or  researches 
of  Messrs.  Maspero  and  Barsanti  have  established 
the  fact  that  the  sites  of  Memphis  and  Sakkarah 
were  occupied  by  the  Thinite  kings ;  the  researches 

^  Professor  Petrie  proposed  to  begin  with  a  dynasty  called 
o  (zero)  to  embrace  these  additional  kings,  many  of  which  seem 
to  have  lived  before  Menes. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  151 


of  M.  Weill  have  proved  the  existence  of  monu- 
ments of  King  Mersekh  in  the  mines  of  Sinai,  the 
working  of  which  dates  back  to  the  first  dynasty. 
The  whole  of  Egypt,  therefore,  was  once  under 
Thinite  rule. 

Thinite  civilisation  differs  fundamentally  from 
the  culture  of  the  neolithic  age,  in  that  it  acquired 
a  few  new  elements  of  the  utmost  importance: 
the  use  of  metal,  the  art  of  building,  the  knowledge 
of  writing.  The  indigenous  population  could  not 
have  contributed  the  elements  of  so  considerable  a 
progress;  its  potters  and  carvers  did  not  become 
the  smiths  and  masons  of  Abydos  and  Negadeh. 
We  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that  some  invasion 
brought  into  Egypt  a  new  race:  the  Egyptians  of 
the  historic  period. 

Whence  came  these  invaders?  We  can  rest 
assured  that  their  language  was  completely 
formed;  it  is  written  by  means  of  signs  that  we 
call  hieroglyphics,  which,  while  reproducing  the 
shape  of  a  particular  object,  or  being,  are  rarely 
ideographic.  The  writing  is  no  longer  in  that 
primitive  stage  where  the  word  ''lion"  was  repre- 
sented, in  the  manner  of  the  neolithics,  by  drawing 
a  "lion";  it  has  reached  that  higher  stage  when 
this  lion  represents  merely  a  sound,  a  letter,  or  a 


152         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


syllable.  Now,  the  Egyptian  language,  in  its 
essential  roots  and  in  its  elementary  grammatical 
forms,  the  pronouns  for  example,  is  a  branch  of  the 
Semitic  trunk.  This  is  a  potent  argument  in 
favour  of  the  Asiatic  origin  of  the  invaders. 

The  style  of  the  monuments  confirms  this 
hypothesis.  The  use  of  bricks,  even  in  the  vicin- 
ity of  the  quarries  of  the  desert,  where  beautiful 
stones  are  plentiful,  points  to  the  conclusion  that 
these  newcomers  came  from  Chaldea.  At  Nega- 
deh,  the  enclosing  wall,  erected  by  Aha,  presents  a 
fagade  adorned  with  prismatic  grooves,  forming  a 
regular  series  of  projections  and  recesses.  The 
same  arrangement  is  carried  out  in  all  the  royal 
palaces;  the  rectangular  cartouche  in  which  the 
Horus  name  is  written,  and  which  forms  the  plan 
of  a  palace  always  has  this  decoration,  later 
applied  also  to  the  tombs  erected  by  the  kings, 
their  relatives  and  courtiers.  M.  de  Morgan  has 
pointed  out  the  striking  similarity  between  this 
method  of  construction  and  certain  very  ancient 
schemes  in  lower  Chaldea.  The  cylinder  that 
was  used  to  stamp  the  royal  names  upon  the  clay 
vases  bears  witness  also  of  Chaldean  influence;  it 
was  destined  to  go  out  of  use  in  Egypt  quickly  and 
only  in  rare  instances  was  it  resorted  to  after  the 
Thinite  period;  this  foreign  fashion  was  short- 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  153 


lived  in  the  valley  of  the  Nile.  Again,  it  is 
surprising  to  see  on  several  palettes,  fantastic 
animals  with  unusually  long  necks,  the  like  of 
which,  according  to  M.  Heuzey's  researches,  are 
not  to  be  met  with  except  on  Chaldean  cylinders. 
Finally,  the  use  of  copper  and  of  bronze  is  at- 
tested by  numerous  knives,  pins,  nails,  bodkins, 
and  spear-heads;  gold  was  beaten  into  foils  and 
chiselled;  iron  was  known  in  its  hematite  form; 
with  the  exception  of  gold,  all  these  metals  came 
from  Asia  and  Sinai.  The  elements  of  civilisation 
that  were  to  renovate  the  material  and  intellectual 
conditions  of  the  neolithic,  indigenous  population 
were  then,  to  all  appearances,  brought  from  a 
cultural  centre  already  highly  developed,  at  a 
time  when  the  inhabitants  of  the  Nile  valley  still 
had  a  rudimentary  set  of  ideas  and  primitive 
implements. ' 

The  Asiatic  smiths  seem  to  have  entered  Egypt, 
not  by  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  but  by  crossing  the 
Red  Sea;  perhaps  they  reached  the  Nile  by  go- 
ing along  the  Ouady-Hammamat,  from  Qoceir  to 
Coptos.  Thus  might  be  explained  the  presence 
of  very  archaic  statues  at  Coptos,  which  are, 
perhaps,  the  first  monuments  of  the  new  race.  It 
is  conceded  that  Arabia  and  perhaps  also  the 

^  De  Morgan,  Recherches,  i,  p.  199. 


154         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


country  of  Fount  (the  coast  of  Erythraea  and 
Somalis)  served  as  way  stations,  where  the  migrat- 
ing peoples/  on  their  way  from  Chaldea  into 
Egypt,  lingered  for  indefinite  periods.  They 
reached  Egypt  by  the  centre  of  the  valley,  and 
the  first  settlements  of  the  invaders  are  found, 
indeed,  at  the  terminus-point  of  their  route,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  river,  at  Abydos  and  Negadeh. 
The  indigenous  race  fought  stubbornly  against 
the  newcomers;  it  is  this  race,  it  seems,  that  the 
first  monuments  of  the  invaders,  bearing  figures 
and  inscriptions,  designate  by  the  name  of  Temhou 
and  of  Anou,  names  which,  in  the  later  historic 
period,  we  find  applied  to  the  Nubians  and  Lib- 
yans. The  natives  were  driven  back,  some  to  the 
south  as  far  as  Nubia,  some  to  the  north,  into  the 
Delta;  they  appear  on  the  votive  palettes;  bound 
and  tied  up  by  the  victorious  Hawk;  trampled  by 
the  royal  Bull;  knocked  down  or  beheaded,  accord- 
ing to  the  ritual,  by  the  Pharaoh;  the  Palermo 
stone,  which  has  preserved  the  list  of  the  festivals 
in  the  Thinite  and  Memphite  period,  mentions  as 

^  In  the  historic  period  the  only  foreign  people  whom  the 
Egyptians  recognised  as  bearing  some  resemblance  to  themselves 
in  features  and  colour,  and  with  whom  they  never  waged  war,  was 
the  people  inhabiting  the  country  of  Fount,  "the  land  of  the 
gods,"  whence  Horus  and  H^thor  were  probably  derived.  Cj. 
V.  Loret:  Horus  le  Faucon, 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  155 

a  special  commemoration  the  day  "of  striking  the 
Anou."^ 

The  overthrow  of  the  natives  is  attributable  in 
part  possibly  to  the  number  of  their  opponents 
but  more  especially  to  the  superior  equipment  of 
the  invaders.  These  newcomers,  formidable  on 
account  of  the  copper,  bronze,  or  iron  heads  of 
their  spears,  arrows,  and  axes,  gave  evidence  of  a 
material  and  moral  superiority  that  has  left  a 
curious  trace  in  history.  The  texts  and  bas- 
reliefs  of  the  Ptolemaic  temple  of  Edfu  relate  at 
length  the  wars  waged,  under  the  divine  dynasties, 
by  Horus,  the  hawk-god,  at  the  time  when  he 
conquered  Egypt.  The  "followers  of  Horus"  are 
soldiers  armed  with  javelins  and  bodkins,  and 
they  are  designated  as  "smiths";  the  places  where 
they  reside  are  called  "smithies."  Perhaps,  the 
legend  of  Horus  conquering  Egypt  at  the  head  of 
the  "smiths "  is  only  the  distant  echo  of  a  primitive 
historical  fact :  "something  like  the  arrival  of  the 
Spaniards  among  the  peoples  of  the  New  World, 
or  the  invasion  of  Egypt  by  tribes  knowing  and 
making  use  of  iron,  having  among  them  a  caste  of 
smiths,  and  worshipping  a  warlike  god.  "^ 

These  "followers  of  Horus"  seem,  indeed,  to 


•  Cf.  Capart:  Lafite  de  frapper  les  Anou,  1901. 
'  Maspero,  Les  jorgerons  d' Horus. 


156         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


have  been  the  first  of  the  new  race  to  arrive;  the 
pyramid  texts  allude  to  them  as  ancestors,  who, 
though  belonging  to  a  dim  past,  have  not  yet 
gone  out  of  the  memory  of  men.  They  founded  a 
capital  at  Hierakonpolis,  in  the  centre  of  Upper 
Egypt,  and  another  at  Buto,  in  the  heart  of  the 
Delta;  from  that  time,  the  valley  was  divided  into 
the  White  Kingdom  of  the  South  and  the  Red 
Kingdom  of  the  North.  The  two  subdivisions  of 
Egypt  did  not  live  in  peace;  Hierakonpolis,  the 
monuments  of  which  M.  Quibell  has  discovered, 
subdued  Buto.  The  episodes  of  these  wars  are 
found  engraved  on  the  maces  of  King  Narmer; 
the  unfortunate  Northerners  appear  also,  on  the 
pedestals  of  King  Khasekhem's  statues,  writhing 
in  pain,  enduring  tortures  devised  with  every 
refinement  of  cruelty.^  As  early  as  the  reign  of 
Aha-Menes,  the  overthrow  of  the  Red  Ejngdom 
had  been  completed.  This  first  king  on  the 
Pharaonic  lists  founded  the  monarchy  by  the 
union  of  the  two  Egypts.  At  the  boundary  of 
the  Delta,  he  erected,  in  order  to  control  the  Red 
Country,  a  large  wall  painted  in  the  colours  of 
the  South,  the  famous  White  Wall  of  Memphis, 
the  name  of  which  was  retained  down  to  the  Greek 
period,  and  has  been  preserved  by  Herodotus, 

^  Quibell,  Hierakonpolis,  i,  PI.  39-40. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  157 


Thucydides,  and  Strabo,  as  an  insulting  memorial 
of  the  defeat  of  the  North.  South  of  the  wall  was 
erected  a  sanctuary  of  Phtah-outside-the-walls 
(literally :  "south  of  his  wall") ;  on  the  inauguration 
day,  Menes  celebrated  for  the  first  time  the  sym- 
bolic rites  of  the  union  of  the  papyrus  plant 
(symbolic  of  the  Northern  Kingdom)  with  the 
lotus  flower  (symbolic  of  the  Southern  Kingdom) 
tied  in  one  bunch  under  the  throne ;  he  placed  on 
his  head  the  white  mitre  and  the  red  crown;  he 
marched  in  a  procession  around  the  White  Hall, 
and  to  the  very  bounds  of  Egyptian  civilisation. 
The  Pharaohs,  Ptolemies,  and  Caesars  repeated  at 
their  coronation  these  three  ceremonies,  in  com- 
memoration of  the  defeat  of  the  North  and  of  the 
union  of  the  two  Egypts.^  Several  centuries 
elapsed  before  Egypt  subsided  into  a  peaceful 
condition.  The  attainment  of  this  end,  still  very 
imperfectly  understood,  devolved  upon  the  Thinite 
Pharaohs.  They  bequeathed  to  the  Memphite 
kings  of  the  Hid  dynasty  a  united  Egypt,  in 
which  we  no  longer  discern  any  rivalry  between 
Red  and  White  countries,  nor  any  contention 
between  Libyans  and  Asiatics. 

If  these  invaders  imposed  their  rule,  the  van- 
quished transmitted  to  them  their  customs.  The 

^  Kurt  Sethe,  Beitrdge  zur  dltesten  Geschichte  JEgyptens,  1906. 


158         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


epoch  of  the  1st  dynasty  marks  the  efflorescence 
of  the  arts  of  the  stone  age;  it  is  the  royal  tombs 
that  supply  us  with  the  most  remarkable  speci- 
mens of  hard-stone  vases,  especially  those  marvel- 
lous bowls  cut  out  of  porphyry,  ornamented  with 
ribs,  shaped  and  carved  by  hand,  with  incredible 
skill.  The  Thinite  Pharaohs  must  have  greatly 
enjoyed  these  costly  table-services;  they  for- 
tunately had  their  names  engraved  upon  the 
dishes,  vases,  cups,  and  plates,  the  fragments  of 
which  enable  us  to  trace  out  or  reconstitute  the 
dynastic  series/  The  flint  industry  was  not 
wiped  out  by  the  introduction  of  weapons  and 
tools  of  metal,  but  the  large  knives,  masterpieces 
of  the  prehistoric  peoples,  became  show-pieces 
reserved  for  the  Pharaoh,  or  else  votive  offerings 
for  the  temples.  A  splendid  specimen  found  at 
El-Amrah  has  its  handle  adorned  with  a  gold  foil, 
engraved  with  rosettes  and  coiling  serpents;  in 
another,  the  massive  gold  handle,  fastened  to  the 
blade  by  three  rivets,  is  decorated  with  dancing 
women  and  a  barge  floating  standards.  Diminu- 
tive pieces  of  furniture,  used  as  votive  offerings, 
were  incrusted  with  ivory  plates,  on  which  figures 

^  Mus6e  Guimet  possesses  the  practically  complete  series  of 
the  royal  names  of  the  1st  dynasty,  engraved  on  fragments  of 
vases,  and  also  several  names  of  the  Ild  dynasty. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  159 


of  animals  were  delicately  carved ;  they  were  made 
to  rest  upon  bull's  legs  of  ivory  in  accordance  with 
the  traditional  Chaldean  style.  The  carved  pal- 
ettes, that  the  prehistoric  peoples  placed  in  the 
hands  of  their  dead  when  they  buried  them  in  the 
sand,  were  now  hung  up  in  the  temples,  for  show. 
Such  are  the  palettes  of  Hierakonpolis,  on  which 
King  Narmer  has  recounted  his  triumphs  over 
the  peoples  of  the  North.  Art  tended  to  assume 
an  official  character;  the  popular  pottery,  which 
formerly  thrived  so  well,  gradually  disappeared 
or  relapsed  into  the  most  repulsive  coarseness, 
towards  the  end  of  the  Thinite  period. 

Artists  henceforth  devoted  themselves  almost 
exclusively  to  the  service  of  the  gods  and  the  kings. 
The  invaders  brought  written  texts  and  a  religious 
literature;  their  ideas  were  adopted  by  the  whole 
Egyptian  society  and  their  rigorous  stamp  put 
upon  art.  The  struggle  for  life  in  this  world,  the 
eager  desire  to  survive  after  death,  these  thoughts 
loomed  large  in  every  mind.  Then  originated, 
perhaps  successively,  perhaps  simultaneously,  the 
views  regarding  the  best  way  of  defeating  death :  in 
some  cases  the  corpse  was  burned ;  in  others  it  was 
dismembered  or  cut  into  pieces;  in  certain  instances, 
the  skeleton  was  left  in  a  contracted  position ;  again 
in  others,  mummification  was  attempted.    Of  all 


i6o         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


these  opposing  systems,  neither  the  origin  nor  the 
development  has  as  yet  been  elucidated;  but  one 
idea  asserts  itself,  from  the  very  first  written 
documents :  there  is  in  man  a  permanent  element, 
which  survives  the  individual,  in  which  even  the 
race  is  incarnated;  it  is  the  double,  the  genie,  the 
material  soul,  which  fits  exactly  into  the  shape  of 
the  body,  but  is  not  blended  with  it.  In  order  to 
save  the  double  from  destruction,  it  was  necessary 
to  build  a  strong  tomb  and  to  preserve  the  corpse 
in  it;  for  the  corpse  might  be  substituted  its 
human  likeness,  engraved  on  a  stela,  reproduced 
by  a  statue,  or  merely  recalled  by  the  name.  The 
masons  had  to  construct  solid  buildings:  these 
were  first  made  of  brick,  on  a  level  with  the  ground, 
like  the  tombs  at  Abydos ;  then,  by  digging  further 
into  the  rocky  soil,  the  funeral  vault  was  sunk 
under  the  earth,  while  chambers  were  built  above 
for  the  relatives  who  there  practised  religious  rites. 
Thus  by  successive  stages  was  evolved  the  type 
exemplified  by  the  Memphite  tombs,  the  different 
parts  of  which  form  a  harmonious  whole,  when 
once  the  ideas  concerning  the  hereafter  have 
become  synthesised. 

But  the  life  of  the  dead  was  dependent  upon  the 
life  of  the  gods;  the  first  gods,  Hor,  Set,  Shu, 
Hathor,  Min,  passed  from  Arabia  or  Fount  into 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  i6i 


Egypt,  and  were  imposed  upon  the  living  and  the 

dead  by  the  priests. '    Temples,  the  ruins  of  which 

are  still  to  be  seen  at  Abydos  and  Hierakonpolis, 

were  built  for  them;  and  because  it  was  believed 

that  they  protected  the  dead  from  danger  in  their 

life  beyond  the  tomb,  kings  and  subjects  worshipped 

them  regularly  and  honoured  them  with  periodic 

festivals.    Thinite  art  was,  therefore,  concerned 

with  the  main  aim  of  existence:  survival  after 

death,  to  be  secured  by  means  of  statues  in  which 

the  doubles  of  the  gods,  the  kings,  and  the  dead 

might  live  again.    More  skilled  than  formerly  and 

supplied,  as  they  were,  with  iron  chisels,  the 

sculptors  were  able  to  cut  out  of  ivory,  limestone, 

or  wood  the  crude  statue  of  Min,  the  delicate 

effigy  of  Pharaoh  Khasekhem,  the  heavy  common 

figure  of  some  man  or  woman  of  the  people,  with  a 

clumsy  body  but  an  expressive,  lifelike  face.  The 

likeness  had  to  be  striking  so  that  the  double 

might  recognise  its  portrait  and  inhabit  it. 

The  general  ideas  by  which  art  was  at  this  time 

influenced  brought  about  also  the  transformation 

of  social  conditions.    The  invaders  brought  with 

them  a  political  organisation  and  chiefs:  the 

"Followers  of  Horns"  seem  to  have  been  grouped 

into  clans,  distinguishable,  like  the  indigenous 

^  V.  Loret,  Revue  Egyptologique,  xi,  and  Horus  le  Famon,  1904. 
zz 


i62         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


tribes,  by  their  totems  displayed  on  ensigns.  The 
Red  North  and  the  White  South  soon  became 
subdivided  into  rival  clans :  the  clans  called  Hawks, 
Dog,  and  Lock  of  Hair  fight  for  the  hawk,  Horns; 
the  Lapwing  and  the  Bow  contend  for  the  grey- 
hound. Set.  Their  struggles  and  triumphs  are 
recorded  by  engravings  on  the  votive  palettes: 
here,  a  Greyhound  brings  a  miserable  Lapwing 
hung  by  the  neck;  elsewhere  the  Hawk  drags 
ignominiously  a  subdued  Bow;  or  the  Scorpion  and 
Lion  are  seen  tearing  down,  with  the  pickaxe, 
the  strongholds  of  the  rival  totems.^  The  great 
number  of  mace-heads  and  monuments  decorated 
with  warlike  scenes  are  another  proof  of  the 
many  battles  fought  by  the  "Followers  of  Horus,  '* 
in  their  long  struggle  against  the  Northerners, 
their  Asiatic  rivals,  and  against  the  rebellious 
Libyans. 

The  reconciliation  of  the  clans  and  the  sub- 
mission of  the  natives  took  place  probably  at  the 
time  when  Menes  erected  the  White  Wall  to 
control  the  North,  and  built  his  "palace  of  the 
double"  at  Negadeh,  a  site  between  Buto  and 
HierakonpoHs,  the  centre  of  Thinite  Egypt.  Then, 
a  curious  transformation  seems  to  have  begun  in 
the  personality  of  the  Pharaoh.    Up  to  this  time, 

^  V.  Loret,  VEgypte  an  temps  du  totemisme,  1906. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  163 


the  king,  being  the  chief  of  a  particular  clan,  chose 
as  totem  a  certain  animal  supposed  to  take  part 
in  the  struggles.  The  fish,  Nar,  which  stands  for 
the  name,  Narmer,  of  the  king  of  HierakonpoHs, 
is  not  a  sign  devoid  of  life;  it  is  sometimes  seen 
provided  with  two  arms,  wielding  the  mace  and 
knocking  down  a  Libyan.  The  name  of  Aha- 
Menes  is  composed  of  a  shield  and  a  javelin, 
brandished  by  the  claws  of  the  hawk,  Horus,  whose 
wings  are  open  wide  in  readiness  to  fly  to  battle. 
After  the  union  of  Reds  and  Whites,  the  Hawk 
became  an  impartial  god,  no  longer  descending 
into  the  arena,  but  remaining  undisturbed  upon 
his  royal  perch.  Pharaoh  no  longer  treated  the 
bird  as  a  totem,  the  chief  of  the  clan  and  a  partaker 
in  battle;  he  adored  it  as  the  national  god  of 
united  Egypt,  he  assumed  its  name,  and  was  identi- 
fied with  it,  so  that  the  Hawk  became  the  symbol  of 
his  sway,  and  his  first  name  in  the  official  titulary. 
How  could  the  clan  of  the  Hawk  and  its  chief,  the 
Pharaoh,  absorb  the  other  clans  and  chiefs?  Such 
a  result  was  not  obtained  without  conflict  and 
reciprocal  concessions.  The  two  ancient  king- 
doms of  HierakonpoHs  and  Buto  secured  for  their 
totems,  the  Vulture  and  the  Uraeus,  the  honour 
of  being  chosen,  after  the  Hawk,  as  official  titles 
for  the  king;  the  Reed  of  the  South  and  the  Bee 


1 64         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


of  the  North  obtained  the  same  privilege.  The 
Pharaoh  thus  bought  his  triumph  by  adopting,  in 
addition  to  the  Hawk,  four  of  the  ancient  rival 
totems,  which  yielded  him  in  return  their  moral 
prestige  and  material  power.  After  the  lapse 
of  a  few  centuries  we  shall  see  the  theologians  of 
Heliopolis'  setting  to  work  in  order  to  combine 
the  chequered  history  of  the  clans  in  one  system: 
they  build  up  the  theory  of  kingship  by  imagining 
divine  dynasties,  founded  by  the  sun,  Ra,  consoli- 
dated by  the  hawk,  Horus,  and  continued  by  their 
son,  the  Pharaoh,  the  "son  of  the  Sun,  who  renews 
upon  earth  the  duration  of  the  life  of  Horus.'* 

Thus  Egypt,  under  Thinite  rule,  foreshadows 
the  Memphite  Kingdom,  its  monuments,  arts,  reli- 
gious beliefs,  and  political  organisation.  But  how 
many  points  are  still  lacking  in  this  obscure  history 
that  teaches  us  nothing  about  the  beginnings  of 
the  indigenous  race,  the  real  origin  of  the  foreign 
invaders,  and  very  little  about  the  fusion  of  these 
two  elements,  from  which  arose  those  Semitised 
Africans  whom  we  call  Egyptians ! 

Many  opinions — ^which  I  could  not  sum  up  here 
— ^have  been  advanced,  as  to  what  the  soil  still 

^  Cj.  G.  Maspero,  Les  Dynasties  divines  de  VEgypte  ancienne^ 
1895. 


Egypt  before  the  Pyramids  165 


conceals  or  by  way  of  explaining  what  it  has 
already  yielded.  Let  us  not  forget  that  the  great 
number  of  speculations  launched  to-day,  neces- 
sarily formed  rather  too  hastily,  but  indispensable 
nevertheless  for  the  progress  of  science,  will  be 
revised  in  the  near  future,  in  the  light  of  documents 
which  may  then  have  been  unearthed.  This, 
however,  is  certain:  in  the  course  of  the  last  few 
years,  the  history  of  mankind  has  been  extended, 
far  back,  into  the  past.  A  bit  of  the  veil  is  now 
raised  that  hides  the  origin  of  the  Eastern  Medi- 
terranean peoples  and  their  first  intercourse. 
Another  point  has  been  gained,  thanks  to  the 
monuments  discovered:  the  possibility  of  tracing 
a  race,  from  the  stone  age  to  historic  times. 
This  opportunity  presents  itself  in  the  case  of 
hardly  any  other  people.  But,  in  Egypt,  we  are 
able  to  take  up  the  race  at  its  origin,  and  to 
discern  the  course  of  civilisation  followed  by  man, 
from  the  caverns  or  crude  tombs  in  the  desert 
down  to  the  imposing  piles  of  the  pyramids. 


CHAPTER  IV 

Around  the  Pyramids 

On  the  left  bank  of  the  Nile,  between  the  junc- 
ture of  the  Delta  and  the  oases  of  the  Fayum,  the 
pyramids  of  Lower  Egypt  lift  to  heaven  their 
triangular  faces,  changing  from  bright  to  sombre 
according  to  the  play  of  light.  Firmly  rooted  in 
the  first  terrace  of  the  African  plateau,  their  tower- 
ing masses  rise  from  the  sands  high  above  the 
cultivated  lands.  About  forty  of  them  are 
in  existence  to-day.  With  hundreds  of  tombs 
surrounding  them,  they  mark  the  successive 
location  of  the  residences  of  the  Memphite 
Pharaohs:  Sakkarah,  Meidun,  Dashur  (the  sites 
of  the  1 1  Id  dynasty) ;  Gizeh  (occupied  by  the 
IVth) ;  Abusir  and  Sakkarah  (the  seat  of  the  Vth 
and  Vlth).  The  Old  Kingdom  of  Egypt,  dating 
from  the  year  4000  to  the  year  3500  before  our 
era,  thus  survives  through  its  cemeteries,  which 
still  stretch  around  the  ancient  capital,  Memphis, 
though  all  the  monuments  of  the  latter  have 

166 


Around  the  Pyramids  167 


disappeared.  Even  ten  years  ago,  it  was  be- 
lieved that  the  beginnings  of  Egyptian  history 
and  the  most  ancient  memorials  of  mankind 
were  to  be  found  around  the  pyramids;  but  the 
recent  discovery  of  the  prehistoric  cemeteries  and 
royal  tombs  of  Abydos  have  proved  the  exist- 
ence of  the  two  first  dynasties  and  disclosed,  in 
its  broad  outlines,  the  Thinite  civilisation.  The 
royal  pyramid-builders  have  thus  been  put  back 
to  their  proper  chronological  place,  i.e.,  to  the 
second  period  of  the  history  of  Egypt.  Never- 
theless, the  pyramid  itself  has  taken  on  a  deeper 
significance:  to  the  earlier  Thinite  period,  it  was 
unknown;  under  the  later  Theban  dynasties, 
it  was  abandoned,  as  early  as  the  Xllth  dynasty, 
the  pyramid  is  thus  characteristic  of  one  period, 
The  Old  Kingdom;  it  is  found  in  one  region,  the 
vicinity  of  Memphis.  It  expresses,  therefore,  a 
new  artistic  and  religious  ideal. 

The  architectural  conception  of  the  pyramid 
was  not  the  chance  discovery  of  some  genius, 
but  rather  the  outcome  of  successive  improve- 
ments made  upon  the  primitive  tombs.  The 
prehistoric  inhabitants  of  Egypt  buried  their  dead 
in  pits  where  the  body,  interred  at  no  great  depth 
in  the  earth,  was  surrounded  by  the  domestic 


1 68         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


vessels  that  had  been  used  by  the  deceased.  The 
brick  buildings  appeared  later  with  the  influx  of 
the  victorious  race  from  Chaldea,  which  settled 
in  the  Nile  valley  and  erected  for  its  kings  tombs 
that  were  a  great  improvement  upon  those  of  the 
native  people.  The  primitive  pit  was  enlarged 
and  made  rectangular,  its  crumbling  sides  were 
supported  by  a  lining  of  bricks,  and  a  wooden 
roof  isolated  the  body  from  the  earth  thrown  upon 
it;  jars  and  other  implements,  instead  of  being 
placed  around  the  body,  were  distributed  in 
small  adjoining  compartments,  while  the  central 
pit  remained  the  sepulchral  chamber.  The  whole 
presented  the  appearance  of  a  structure  low  and 
elongated,  covered  with  sand;  it  was  approached 
by  a  side  stairway  of  brick. 

Such  was  the  royal  tomb  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Thinite  period.  In  order  to  render  inviolable 
the  resting-place  for  the  soul  and  the  body,  the 
destiny  of  which  becomes  of  increasing  importance 
to  a  people  of  inquiring  mind,  the  vault  was 
hollowed  out  of  the  very  rock.  It  resembled  a 
long  passage,  roofed  over  by  impenetrable  rock. 
The  weak  point  of  it  was  the  unguarded  incline 
leading  to  the  tomb.  The  architects  sunk  several 
narrow  shafts  perpendicular  to  the  rocky  roof; 
the  body  once  interred,  enormous  stones  were 


Around  the  Pyramids  169 


let  down  through  those  shafts,  thus  blocking  the 
passage  of  approach.  The  shafts  opened  on  a 
level  with  the  ground,  but  were  concealed  by 
heaps  of  sand  and  of  gravel  kept  in  place  by  a 
stone  curbing.  So  well  protected,  a  tomb  was  no 
longer  accessible  to  the  family  of  the  dead;  how 
could  they  then  administer  to  the  wants  of  the 
deceased  in  the  other  world?  On  the  heap  of 
sand,  just  above  the  body,  they  buried  vessels 
containing  food;  then  a  little  chapel  was  built 
at  the  entrance  of  the  stairway,  to  which  the 
relatives  might  repair  to  bring  offerings  and  to 
say  their  prayers.  This  scheme  of  construction 
survived  until  the  plan  of  the  tomb  was  altered 
so  as  to  do  away  with  the  sloping  approach,  which 
was  deemed  insecure.  A  vertical  shaft,  passing 
down  through  the  superstructure  of  masonry, 
allowed  the  corpse  to  be  lowered  by  means  of 
ropes;  after  the  funeral  ceremony,  the  shaft  was 
filled  and  its  opening  carefully  covered  up.  The 
tiny  chapel  was  then  transferred  to  the  side 
facing  the  East,  and  had  the  appearance  of  a 
narrow  passage,  ending  with  a  false  door,  carved 
in  relief,  which  was  supposed  to  give  access  to  the 
mortuary  chamber.'    As  a  result  of  the  many 

'  J.  Gerstang,  The  Third  Egyptian  Dynasty,  1904,  chap,  vii; 
Plates  XX-XXI. 


170         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


attempts  to  perfect  it,  the  Thinite  tomb  had  be- 
come, at  the  beginning  of  the  1 1  Id  dynasty,  a 
sort  of  fortified  house,  sunk  in  the  rock  and  built 
above  the  level  of  the  ground,  including  an  inac- 
cessible grave,  dumb  wells,  and  a  chapel  chamber 
for  the  use  of  the  relatives.  Seen  from  a  distance, 
the  structure  resembles  a  stone  cube  or  bench,  such 
as  the  Arabs  put  before  their  own  houses  and 
which  they  call  "mastaba, "  a  designation  adopted 
for  the  tombs  belonging  to  the  Memphite  period. 

A  parallel  transformation  can  be  followed  up 
in  the  kind  of  material  used  for  constructing  the 
tombs.  Like  the  Chaldeans,  the  Egyptians  from 
Asia  used  at  first  chiefly  brick.  After  they  had  set- 
tled in  the  Nile  valley,  the  rocky  banks  of  the 
desert  plateau  furnished  them  with  the  coarse  or 
fine  limestone  from  Mokattam  or  Tourah,  sand- 
stone from  Silsileh  alabaster,  granite,  and  basalt 
from  Assouan.  The  newcomers  learned  the  art 
of  using  those  materials  from  the  natives,  who 
were  skilled  in  polishing  all  hard  stones.  In  their 
desire  to  construct  imperishable  tombs,  the  Pha- 
raohs prompted  their  subjects  to  erect  colossal 
structures;  out  of  the  primitive  craftsmen  in 
pottery  they  made  stone-carvers  and  builders.  As 
far  back  as  the  1st  dynasty.  King  Ousaphais  sup- 
planted the  usual  wooden  floor  of  the  tomb  by 


Around  the  Pyramids  171 


one  of  granite ;  a  chamber  in  Khasekhemui's  tomb 
(lid  dynasty)  is  built  of  limestone  hewn  and 
fitted  and  this  is  the  earliest  instance  known  of  a 
stone  structure.  The  same  king  furnished  the 
temple  of  Horns  at  Hierakonpolis  with  splendid 
doors  of  red  granite,  the  posts  of  which  are  to-day 
in  Cairo  Museum.  Judging  from  these  fragments, 
the  Egyptians  were  even  as  early  as  this  period 
most  accomplished  artisans. 

Soon  we  see  them  applying  themselves  to  more 
ambitious  works.  The  Sphinx  of  Gizeh  (Plate 
VIII,  i),  a  gigantic  spur  of  rock,  hewn  in  the 
shape  of  a  lion  with  human  head,  dates  perhaps 
from  that  time;  the  meditative  majesty  of  that 
splendid  face,  now  mutilated,  shows  what  degree 
of  technical  skill  and  of  expressive  power  the 
Egyptian  artists  had  already  attained.  Does 
the  temple  adjoining  the  Sphinx,  which  bears  no 
inscription  that  might  indicate  its  date,  belong 
to  the  same  period?  Looking  at  its  huge,  cov- 
ered halls,  of  which  the  square  pillars  in  red  granite 
alone  remain,  its  narrow,  low  sanctuaries,  roofed 
over  by  a  single  stone,  its  vaulted  chambers  made 
of  alabaster,  we  are  tempted  to  assign  the  building 
to  the  early  age  of  Egyptian  art  which  is  character- 
ised by  such  sober  and  massive  style,  impressive 
grandeur  and  mystery  (Plate  VIII,  2). 


172         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


The  same  kind  of  emotion  is  stirred  by  a  puzzling 
structure  recently  brought  to  Hght  by  M.  Bar- 
santi  (Service  des  Antiquites),  near  Zaouiet-el- 
Aryan,  half-way  between  Gizeh  and  Sakkarah. 
It  is  considered  the  great  curiosity  of  Memphite 
Egypt  and  as  it  certainly  dates  from  the  end  of 
the  Thinite  period,  it  "enables  us  to  assign  ap- 
proximate dates  to  other  structures  which  exhibit 
similar  features. 

The  part  remaining  of  the  edifice  is  seen  at  the 
bottom  of  a  pit  in  the  shape  of  a  T,  328  feet  long, 
82  feet  wide,  and  98  feet  deep.  The  limestone  pla- 
teau was  simply  hollowed  out,  but  the  cross-sections 
present  as  smooth  a  surface  as  a  roll  of  butter  cut 
with  a  thread.  The  bottom  is  reached  by  an 
incline  consisting  of  a  central  slide,  intended 
for  the  descent  of  building  materials,  and  a 
precipitous  stairway,  with  well-worn  steps  on  each 
side  (Plate  VI,  i).  The  pit  had  been  filled  with 
more  than  142,850  cubic  feet  of  rubble  and  rubbish, 
which  had  to  be  removed  before  the  pavement, 
made  of  enormous  blocks  of  red  granite,  could  be 
revealed.  M.  Barsanti  hoped  that  by  removing 
one  of  these  pavement  stones  he  might  disclose 
a  burial-chamber,  for  a  few  fragments  found  in 
the  rubbish  bore  the  name  of  King  Nofirka,  of 
the  Ild  dynasty.    But  once  lifted,  this  block 


Around  the  Pyramids  173 


showed  another  block  below,  and  underneath 
three  layers  were  superposed,  the  lowest  resting  on 
the  very  rock.  Where  was  the  burial-vault?  In 
order  to  find  it,  M.  Barsanti  hired  skilled  granite- 
cutters,  formerly  engaged  in  the  dam- works  at 
Assouan,  and  had  them  open  a  tunnel  through  the 
rock,  an  achievement  worthy  of  the  old  Pharaohs. 
The  tunnel,  which  I  recently  visited,  with  M. 
Barsanti  as  guide,  has  up  to  the  present  given 
the  indication  that  the  mass  is  compact;  many 
Egyptologists  think,  indeed,  that  the  floor  does  not 
conceal  any  secret  chamber,  but  was  simply 
devised  as  a  foundation  for  structures  that  were 
never  built.  M.  Barsanti  firmly  believes  that 
the  floor  is  a  ceiling  to  an  undiscovered  tomb. 
His  conviction  seems  to  be  corroborated  by  a 
curious  arrangement  in  the  floor.  One  of  the 
granite  blocks  has  been  hollowed  out  in  an  oval 
shape ;  the  cavity  measures  over  six  feet  in  length 
and  three  feet  in  depth;  a  splendid  lid  with  four 
handles  covers  it,  polished  like  a  mirror  and  as 
carefully  finished  as  an  exquisite  jewel  (Plate 

VI,  2). 

It  was  [wrote  M.  Barsanti]  with  genuine  emo- 
tion that  I  lifted  the  lid;  but  when  the  base  was 
uncovered,  it  was  found  completely  empty.  All 
that  I  noticed  was  a  blackish  band,  four  inches  broad, 


174         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


running  around  the  inside,  probably  some  slight  de- 
posit of  a  liquid  poured  into  this  hollow  as  an  offer- 
ing or  a  libation,  and  which  has  evaporated  in  the 
course  of  time.' 

It  may  be,  indeed,  that  a  funeral  chamber  was 
dug  directly  underneath  the  trough-shaped  object, 
as  such  was  the  procedure  in  the  case  of  the  masta- 
bas,  the  roofs  of  which  were  used  as  receptacles 
for  offerings.  In  order  to  solve  this  problem,  M. 
Barsanti  was  duly  authorised  by  the  Service  des 
Antiquites  to  remove,  piece  by  piece,  all  the  super- 
posed blocks  of  the  four  layers ;  he  will  not  replace 
them  until  the  lowest  depths  of  the  excavation 
have  been  explored. 

Whatever  its  raison  etre,  the  structure  of 
Nofirka  shows  us,  as  does  the  temple  of  the 
Sphinx,  the  preference  of  the  Pharaohs  of  that 
time  for  huge  structures  built  with  materials  of  a 
commensurate  size. 

The  impression  received  at  Zaouiet-el-Aryan 
[says  M.  Maspero]  is  one  never  to  be  forgotten. 
The  form  and  choice  of  the  materials,  the  skilled 
workmanship  evinced  in  the  cut  and  in  the  jointures, 
the  exquisite  finish  of  the  granite  trough,  the  boldness 
of  the  lines  and  height  of  the  walls,  all  combine  to 
create  an  effect  that  is  unmatched  to  the  present  day. 
It  is  a  most  impressive  sight  and  nowhere  is  the 

^Annates  du  Service  des  Antiquites  de  VEgypte,  vii,  p.  285. 


Around  the  Pyramids  175 


power  of  the  ancient  Egyptian  architects  revealed 
with  such  force. ^ 

The  increasing  boldness  of  the  constructors, 
and  their  tendency  to  erect  structures  of  greater 
height  and  of  greater  depth,  causing  the  Egyptian 
tomb  to  unfold  new  lines,  finally  culminated 
in  that  magnificent  conception,  the  pyramid. 
The  first  was  erected  on  the  site  of  Sakkarah, 
by  Zeser,  one  of  the  last  sovereigns  of  the  Illd 
dynasty  (about  4100  b  c).  Zeser  is  an  important 
personage  in  Egyptian  history;  from  Sinai  to 
Elephantine,  monuments  have  preserved  his  name, 
but  the  particulars  of  his  doughty  deeds  are  not 
known.  Even  in  Hellenic  times  Zeser  was  credited 
with  having  introduced  the  method  of  fitting 
stones  for  building  purposes;  at  any  rate,  his 
reign  marks  the  extensive  use  of  stone-work  and 
the  supremacy  of  stone  over  brick.  Like  his 
predecessors,  however,  Zeser  began  by  building 
his  own  tomb  of  brick,  on  the  site  of  Bet-Khallaf , 
near  Abydos.""  It  is  a  huge  mastaba,  erected 
above  several  funeral  chambers,  that  are  ap- 
proached by  a  passage  guarded  by  five  plug- 
blocks.   The  tomb  was  never  used.   Perhaps  it  was 

^  Annales  du  Service  des  Antiguites  de  VEgypte,  vii,  p.  259. 
»  J.  Gerstang,  Mahdsna  and  Bet-Khalldf,  1902. 


176         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


abandoned  at  the  suggestion  of  a  great  courtier, 
Imhotep,  whose  reputation  as  an  architect  and 
magician  has  outhved  the  centuries.  Zeser,  leav- 
ing the  Thinite  cemeteries,  removed  his  own 
residence  to  the  White  Hall  of  Memphis  and  chose 
Sakkarah  for  his  burial-place.  There  rises  his 
"terraced"  pyramid,  which  forms  a  transition 
between  the  massive  rectangular  mastaba  and  the 
sharp  outlines  of  the  triangular  pyramid.  It  is  a 
four-sided  structure,  composed  of  six  huge  terraces, 
about  twenty-seven  feet  high ;  each  one  is  indented 
six  feet  more  than  the  one  below  it ;  the  total  height 
is  1805  feet.  Apparently  six  mastabas  of  decreasing 
size  have  been  placed  one  on  the  top  of  the  other; 
there  seems  to  be  nothing  new  about  this,  except 
a  successive  superposition  of  mastabas,  the  top 
of  one  serving  as  the  base  of  the  next.  In  reality, 
the  conception  is  bolder.  First  of  all,  the  archi- 
tects have  substituted  stone  for  brick;  then, 
instead  of  constructing  a  terrace  as  a  base,  on 
which  to  superimpose  five  others,  they  started 
from  the  base  to  carry  the  whole  mass  upward, 
forming  parallel  sides,  the  slant  of  which  was 
interrupted,  so  as  to  form  gradual  steps  on  the 
outside.'  We  find  here  no  hesitation:  the  work- 
men clearly  devised  a  building,  rising  from  the 

^  C/.  Choisy,  Vart  de  construire  chez  les  Egyptiens. 


Around  the  Pyramids  177 


earth,  in  a  towering  form,  towards  the  sky.  (Plate 
VII,  I). 

In  time,  the  "steps,"  marking  as  many  inter- 
ruptions in  the  ascending  line,  diminished  in  size. 
One  of  the  successors  of  Zeser,  Snefru,  erected  on 
the  site  of  Meidun, '  south  of  Sakkarah,  a  pyramid 
of  similar  style;  but  the  width  of  each  step  is  less 
by  half,  which  makes  the  rise  appear  more  con- 
tinuous (Plate  VII,  2).  Later  Snefru  accentuated 
this  upward  movement  still  more,  in  a  second 
pyramid,  which  he  had  built  at  Dashur.  The  base 
of  this  structure  has  about  the  same  slant  as  the 
sides  of  a  mastaba;  then,  without  intermediate 
steps,  the  four  edges  converge  boldly  towards  the 
sky,  assuming  for  the  first  time  pyramidal  form. 
The  successive  attempts  of  Zeser  and  Snefru 
resulted,  about  4000  B.C.,  in  the  characteristic 
conception  of  a  building  "emerging  from  the 
ground,"^  projecting  its  four  smooth  surfaces 
upward  until  they  form  an  apex,  then  letting 
them  slope  to  earth  again  in  perfect  triangles. 

The  architectural  formula  of  the  pyramid,  which 
the  kings  of  the  IVth  dynasty  applied,  was  thus 
set  down. 

^  Cf.  Fl.  Petrie,  Medum,  1892. 

''This  is  the  meaning  of  the  hieroglyphics  "per  m  ous,'' 
whence  the  Greek  word  pyramis  is  derived.  Cf.  Eiseniohr, 
Ein  mathematisches  Handbuch  der  alten  Agypter,  p.  260. 

12 


178         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


It  seems  as  if  Cheops,  Chephren,  and  Mycerinus 
had  yielded  to  a  kind  of  rapture  when  they 
appHed  this  formula  to  dimensions  so  Titanic  as 
those  of  the  three  pyramids  of  Gizeh.  The  one 
called  "Horizont,"  built  by  Cheops,  was  481 
feet  high  and  its  square  base  measured  755  feet 
on  a  side;  the  "Great,"  built  by  Chephren,  was 
452  feet  high  and  its  base  measured  705  feet  on  a 
side;  the  "Supreme'*  built  by  Mycerinus,  was 
217  feet  high  and  measured  354  feet  on  a  side. 
Building  on  a  colossal  scale  reached  its  highest 
development  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  dy- 
nasty and,  after  having  produced  all  the  effects 
of  which  it  was  capable,  gradually  declined.  This 
impression  is  felt  at  once  by  the  visitor.  The 
great  pyramid  appears  first  at  the  edge  of  the 
desert ;  its  enormous  dimensions  bear  witness  to  a 
dream  of  exalted  grandeur  that  could  be  realised 
but  once.  The  second  and  third  pyramids,  built 
diagonally  to  the  first,  rise  behind  the  latter,  one 
with  more  slender  outlines,  the  other  with  decid- 
edly smaller  proportions,  which  restore  the  mind  to 
more  reasonable  and  moderate  ideas,  so  that  after 
the  first  sensation  of  amazement,  an  eager  desire 
is  felt  to  understand  the  secret  of  the  construction 
and  the  purpose  of  these  monuments'  (Plate  IX,  i). 

*  Nobody  has  better  expressed  the  impression  produced  by  the 


Gizeh. 


II.    Temple  of  the  Sphinx. 
Plate  VIII. 


Around  the  Pyramids  179 


The  clearing,  which  M.  Maspero  has  directed 
during  the  last  few  years,  around  the  pyramid  of 
Ounas,  at  Sakkarah,  has  enabled  us  to  interpret 
the  plan  of  any  pyramid.  It  comprises  three 
parts:  inside  the  mortuary  chambers;  all  around, 
the  pyramidal  core  of  masonry;  outside,  the 
chapel,  where  the  religious  service  was  held. 
The  whole  was  encompassed  by  a  wall,  and  in  the 

great  pyramids  seen  at  close  view  than  Jomard,  in  his  treatise  on 
Memphis  and  the  Pyramids  {Description  de  VEgypte,  ed.  in  8vo, 
vol.  V,  p.  597) :  "Their  tops,  seen  from  a  distance,  produce  the  same 
effect  as  summits  of  high  pyramidal  mountains,  which  are  out- 
lined against  the  sky.  The  nearer  one  approaches  the  more  this 
effect  decreases.  But  when  one  is  only  a  short  distance  from 
these  regular  piles,  quite  a  different  impression  follows:  one  is 
struck  with  surprise,  and  climbing  the  hill  one's  ideas  are  changed 
quite  suddenly.  Finally  when  the  foot  of  the  great  pyramid  is 
reached,  one  is  overcome  by  a  powerful  emotion,  tempered  by 
a  kind  of  amazement  and  overwhelming  stupor.  The  top  and 
angles  disappear  from  view;  what  is  felt  is  not  that  kind  of 
admiration  inspired  by  a  masterpiece  of  art;  it  is  a  feeling  far 
deeper  than  a  mere  aesthetic  sensation.  The  effect  lies  in  the 
size  and  the  simplicity  of  form ;  in  the  contrast  between  the  stature 
of  man  and  the  immensity  of  the  work  of  his  hands;  the  eye  can 
not  embrace  it,  the  mind  can  scarcely  grasp  it.  It  is  then  that 
a  real  conception  is  formed  of  this  enormous  mass  of  cut  stones, 
piled  up  in  order  to  a  prodigious  height.  There  are  seen  hund- 
reds of  courses  of  stone  200  cubic  feet  in  size  and  of  the  weight 
of  500  hundredweight,  thousands  of  others  similar,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  understand  by  what  means  such  colossal  stones  have 
been  quarried,  conveyed,  "piled  up,  or  to  conjecture  how  many 
men  were  necessary,  what  time  was  required,  what  machinery 
employed,  in  so  great  a  work.  The  more  difficult  it  is  to  explain 
all  these  things,  the  more  the  power,  which  so  easily  triumphed 
over  such  obstacles,  is  to  be  admired." 


i8o         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


pyramid-enclosure  are  to  be  found  the  tombs  of 
the  relatives  of  the  king,  or  those  of  courtiers  and 
friends. 

The  work  was  begun  by  an  excavation  in  the 
rocky  hill  of  the  desert:  the  ruined  pyramid  of 
Abu-Roasch,  cleared  by  M.  Chassinat,  and  the 
monument  of  Zaouiet-el- Aryan  are  good  instances 
of  such  substructures  on  a  vast  scale.  The  sepul- 
chral chamber  was  then  cut  out  in  the  rock  as  well 
as  the  stairs  leading  to  it;  choice  material  was 
reserved  for  it,  fine  limestone  from  Turah,  or 
granite  from  Assouan.  Around  this  nucleus,  the 
entrance  to  which  was  still  left  open,  the  pyramidal 
mass  was  erected  in  courses  of  limestone  blocks, 
cut  out  from  the  plateau  itself,  or  from  the  quarries 
of  the  Arabic  range.  These  blocks  were  easily 
floated  across  the  Nile,  especially  at  high  water, 
when  the  river  washes  the  cliffs,  from  Gizeh  to 
Sakkarah ;  they  were  then  dragged  up  the  plateau, 
along  the  causeways  still  visible  in  many  places. 

It  has  been  a  bone  of  contention  for  a  long  time, 
whether  the  pyramid  was  constructed  with  defi- 
nite dimensions  in  mind  and  according  to  a  clear 
design,  or  whether  the  first  nucleus,  enclosing 
the  mortuary  chamber,  was  not,  in  itself,  a  small 
pyramid,  which  increased  in  height  and  in  breadth, 
according  to  the  resources  and  the  time  that  each 


Around  the  Pyramids  i8i 


king  might  devote  to  it.  The  existence,  in  certain 
pyramids,  of  passages  of  approach,  actually  im- 
bedded in  the  core  of  masonry,  and  also  the  arrange- 
ment of  the  courses  of  stone  have  made  prevalent 
the  theory  of  Lepsius:  every  pyramid  develops 
by  enlargement  and  super-additions  around  a 
nucleus  of  finished  form.  At  first,  it  is  about  164 
feet  at  the  base,  and  proportionately  high ;  then, 
successive  coatings  raise  its  dimensions  to  the 
figures  that  we  have  at  present,  the  final  size  thus 
being  fixed  either  by  the  death  of  the  king,  or  by  his 
own  decision.  The  construction  presented  no 
other  difficulty  than  the  immensity  of  the  task; 
an  incline  enabled  the  blocks  to  be  hoisted,  step 
by  step,  to  the  desired  height,  on  little  wooden 
machines,  which  Herodotus  described  and  M. 
Legrain  has  recently  reconstructed.^  After  the 
narrow  top  platform  was  in  place,  the  final  process 
was  to  add,  from  top  to  base,  one  smooth  casing, 
which  made  of  each  side  one  continuous  surface. 
Between  every  two  of  these  courses  of  stone  was 
fitted  a  block,  the  exterior  side  of  which  was  be- 
velled, and  the  workmen,  descending  step  by 
step,  left  above  them  one  smooth,  regular  slope  on 
each  side  of  the  pyramid  (Plate  VIII,  i,  and  XII,  i). 

Inside,  are  usually  found  several  chambers  with 

» Herodotus,  II,  125. 


1 82         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


as  many  passages  of  approach;  this  multiplicity 
may  be  accounted  for  by  the  successive  changes 
of  design,  for  one  sepulchral  chamber  should  prac- 
tically be  sufficient  for  one  Pharaoh.  Visitors 
who  are  not  afraid  of  an  uncomfortable  descent 
on  very  slippery  ground,  through  passages  low 
and  poorly  ventilated,  where  the  thermometer 
registers  86°  F.  are  well  repaid  with  the  peculiar 
emotion  excited  by  this  pilgrimage  to  the  tomb 
of  Cheops.  On  the  north  side,  about  forty  feet 
above  ground,  is  the  opening  of  a  steep  incline; 
the  broken  outer  casing  exposes  four  enormous 
limestone  beams,  every  two  propping  each  other 
up  by  their  bevelled  tops.  This  buttress  repro- 
duces the  triangular  profile  of  the  pyramid;  its 
very  simple,  pure  lines  confer  an  indescribable 
beauty  on  this  door  to  the  other  world  (Plate  X) . 

A  hinging  stone,  with  trap-door  in  the  roof,^ 
blocked  up  the  entrance  in  former  times;  when 
it  was  swung  around,  a  gallery  appeared,  seven 
hundred  feet  long  and  three  feet  high.  The  space, 
between  the  polished  walls,  was  just  large  enough 
to  make  it  possible  to  slide  a  coffin  down  the  in- 
cline but  the  visitors  had  to  descend  in  a  stooping 

^  Cf.  Strabon,  xvii,  p.  808:  " The  pyramid  has,  on  its  sides,  at 
a  moderate  height,  a  stone  that  can  be  removed;  when  it  is 
lifted  up,  one  sees  a  winding  passage  leading  to  the  tomb." 


Around  the  Pyramids  183 


posture,  their  feet  being  prevented  from  slipping 
by  grooves  cut  in  the  floor  at  regular  intervals. 
A  horizontal  landing  is  thus  reached,  from  which 
a  descending  passage  leads  to  a  subterranean 
chamber,  cut  out  in  the  rock,  thirty-two  yards 
under  ground;  it  was  the  primitive  sepulchral 
chamber,  later  abandoned.  From  the  same  land- 
ing, an  ascending  passage  leads  to  the  centre  of 
the  pyramid,  but  three  great  portcullises  were  let 
down  after  the  day  of  burial,  to  cut  off  access  to 
it.  From  ancient  times,  treasure-seekers  have 
overcome  the  obstacle  by  running,  above  the  plug- 
blocks,  a  drift-way,  through  which  visitors  may 
now  pass.  Another  low  passage,  thirty-six  yards 
long,  leads  to  a  second  landing  from  which  two  gal- 
leries open  out.  One,  horizontal,  and  forty-one 
yards  long,  leads  to  a  granite  chamber  with  a 
triangular  ceiling,  which  seems  to  be  another 
sepulchral  chamber,  also  left  unused,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  enlargement  of  the  structure.  The 
other  passage  runs  upwards  and  opens  into  a  very 
spacious  gallery,  twenty-eight  feet  high,  seven 
feet  wide,  and  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  feet  long. 
The  construction  of  the  grand  gallery  is  very 
peculiar.  On  each  side,  a  sort  of  bench  or  foot- 
way, twenty-four  inches  high,  diminishes  the 
width  by  twenty  inches ;  it  has  on  the  upper  surface 


1 84         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


notches  for  the  feet,  a  very  useful  device,  con- 
sidering the  fact  that  the  incHne  is  very  steep 
and  the  stone  bears  a  high  poHsh.  The  coffin 
was  probably  made  to  slide  along  on  the  floor  of 
the  gallery,  between  these  foot-ways,  which  were 
used  perhaps  as  tow-paths.  The  roof  is  not 
less  curious  than  the  floor;  it  consists  of  seven 
courses  of  stone,  arranged  in  corbels. 

Owing  to  an  optical  illusion  [writes  Jomard], 
the  lines  appear  curved,  though  the  front  side  of 
every  layer  is  vertical,  and  they  seem  to  form  a  very 
pointed  arch.  So  high  is  the  polish  on  the  stone  and 
so  finished  the  workmanship  that  many  in  my  party 
were  at  first  inclined  to  think  that  the  material  was 
granite  or  marble.  The  joints  are  almost  impercepti- 
ble ;  a  knife  blade  could  not  pass  between  them.  The 
whole  construction  is  of  exquisite  finish,  but  no  less 
astonishing  is  the  solidity  of  the  workmanship,  which 
has  insured  its  perfect  preservation,  in  spite  of  the 
enormous  weight  upon  this  false  vault. '  (Plate 

XI,  2.) 

The  grand  gallery  opens  into  several  chambers, 
composing  the  royal  sepulchre.  Here  the  number 
of  obstacles  is  purposely  increased.  A  threshold, 
three  feet  high,  must  be  stepped  over,  then  a  low 
passage  leads  to  a  vestibule,  over  nine  feet  high, 

'  Description  .  .  .  ,  v,  p.  627.  The  grand  gallery  is  in  reality 
built  of  fine  limestone  from  Mokattam. 


Gizeh. 


II.    The  Pyramid  of  Ounas,  Chapel  and  Tomb. 
Plate  IX. 


Around  the  Pyramids  185 


where  the  portcullises  were  kept.  One  is  still 
in  its  original  place,  held  up  about  three  feet 
above  ground  by  a  little  notch  in  the  slide ;  the 
other  three  have  disappeared,  or  were  never  placed. 
Why  was  the  portcullis  not  lowered  after  the 
burial?  This  question  cannot  be  answered,  but  it 
is  not  without  anxiety  that  the  visitor  crawls  along 
under  that  mass  of  granite,  which  seems  ready  to 
fall.  Finally  the  funeral  chamber  is  reached;  it 
is  built  in  the  axis  of  the  pyramid,  131  feet  above 
ground  and  three  hundred  feet  under  the  apex. 
It  is  a  granite  blockhouse  thirty-four  feet  long, 
sixteen  feet  wide,  and  twenty  feet  high,  built  of 
enormous  stones,  very  well  wrought. 

The  room  is  intact  and  the  polish  of  its  walls  has 
a  high  finish ;  the  joints  of  the  granite  layers,  six  in 
number  and  uniform  in  height,  are  scarcely  notice- 
able; the  roof  is  formed  of  monolithic  pieces,  twenty 
feet  long.  The  same  thing  that  was  noticeable  in  the 
case  of  the  shafts  and  the  galleries,  is  to  be  observed 
here :  there  are  no  cracks,  nor  can  any  displacement 
be  noticed ;  not  one  stone  has  slipped  since  it  was  put 
in  place;  everything  is  well  poised  and  on  a  level.' 

In  one  corner  is  the  granite  sarcophagus,  a 
rectangular  box,  without  any  ornaments  or  inscrip- 
tions; the  lid  is  lacking;  the  mummy  and  funeral 

»  Cf.  with  opinion  of  Petrie:  A  History  of  Egypt,  i,  p.  41. 


1 86         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


equipment  have  disappeared.  Above  the  King*s 
chamber,  five  little  rooms  with  low  ceilings  have 
been  built,  one  above  the  other,  so  as  to  divide  the 
weight  of  the  roof;  they  can  be  reached  by  means 
of  a  ladder  from  the  grand  gallery  (Plate  XI,  i). 
On  these  blocks  of  masonry  above  the  King's 
chamber,  the  name  of  King  Khufu  (Cheops)  is 
found  repeatedly  written  in  red  paint  in  the  royal 
cartouche.  This  quarry-mark  confirms  the  tra- 
ditional attribution  of  this  pyramid  to  its  builder. 

The  many  precautions  taken  to  bar  access  to 
the  pyramid  prove  that,  as  in  the  case  of  the  masta- 
bas,  no  one  was  allowed  to  enter  after  the  coffin 
had  been  put  in  place.  The  funeral  service  for 
the  king  had,  therefore,  to  be  celebrated  in  an 
exterior  chapel,  erected  on  the  side  of  the  pyramid 
facing  the  east.  The  ''Horizont"  of  Cheops  has 
retained  nothing  of  this  temple,  except  portions  of 
a  basalt  pavement,  but  on  the  east  side  of  the 
"Great"  and  of  the  ''Supreme,"  parts  of  the 
walls  still  remain;  at  Sakkarah,  the  chapel  of 
Ounas  (Plate  XI,  2)  still  presents  bas-reliefs  and 
columns  of  red  granite.  It  is  in  the  rites  cele- 
brated in  these  funeral  temples  that  the  true 
"secret"  of  the  pyramids  lies.  They  have  been 
known  to  us  since  M.  Maspero  discovered  in  the 
little  pyramids  of  Sakkarah  (Vth  and  Vlth  dynas- 


Around  the  Pyramids  187 


ties)  the  texts  that  are  lacking  in  the  splendid 
sepulchres  of  Gizeh.  ^  It  is  there  that  the  explana- 
tion must  be  sought  of  these  colossal  monuments 
which  have  aroused  the  curiosity  of  the  world. 

The  pyramids  are  tombs;  but  to  understand 
the  meaning  attached  to  this  word  *'tomb"  by 
the  Egyptians  of  the  Old  Kingdom  we  must  put 
aside  every  modem  idea  about  death,  as  the  latter 
is  for  us  necessarily  opposed  to  life.  The  Egyptians 
at  the  dawn  of  history,  like  the  non-civilised  people 
of  our  times,  did  not  conceive  of  death  as  the 
contrary  of  life,  or  of  the  tomb  as  a  place  of 
annihilation;  for  them,  a  dead  person  was  in  a 
particular  state,  not  requiring  conditions  radically 
different  from  those  surrounding  him  during 
his  lifetime.  Now  such  conditions  are  well 
explained  by  primitive  people.  "The  savage,'* 
writes  Frazer,  in  his  admirable  book  on  primitive 
beliefs,^  "commonly  explains  the  processes  of  in- 
animate nature  by  supposing  that  they  are  pro- 
duced by  living  beings  working  in  or  behind  the 
phenomena,  so  he  explains  the  phenomena  of  life  it- 
self.   If  an  animal  lives  and  moves,  it  can  only  be, 

^  The  texts  quoted  further  on  are  borrowed  from  Maspero's 
remarkable  work:  Les  Inscriptions  des  pyramides  de  Sakkarah, 
text  and  translation. 

'  The  Golden  Bough.    2d  ed.,  1900,  vol.  i,  p.  247, 


i88         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


he  thinks,  because  there  is  a  Httle  animal  inside 
which  moves  it.  If  a  man  lives  and  moves,  it  can 
only  be  because  he  has  a  little  man  or  animal  in- 
side who  moves  him.  The  animal  inside  the  animal, 
the  man  inside  the  man, is  the  soul."  For  many  of 
the  non-civilised,  the  human  soul  takes  on  the  shape 
and  the  facial  characteristics  of  the  individual, 
whom  it  animates  except  that  it  is  much  smaller 
than  he.  In  like  manner  the  Egyptians  believed 
that  everything  that  lives — gods,  men,  animals, 
trees,  stones,  and  all  objects  whatsoever — encloses 
its  own  diminutive  image,  which  is  its  soul.  They 
called  that  image  or  projection  of  the  individual, 
Ka;  we  translate  it  as  Double  or  Genie;  the  Ka 
is  represented  as  a  being  somewhat  smaller  than 
the  person  in  whom  he  is  indwelling  but  in  other 
respects  exactly  like  him.  We  must  add,  that, 
similar  in  this  respect  to  many  savages  of  the 
present  day,  the  Egyptians  adhered  not  only  to 
that  conception  of  the  soul,  but  also  had,  besides 
the  Double,  which  was  closely  bound  up  with  the 
body,  the  notion  of  a  moving  and  spiritual  soul, 
symbolised  by  the  Ba,  a  human-headed  bird; 
they  also  saw  in  the  ''shadow"  and  in  the  "  name'* 
of  man  other  manifestations  of  the  diminutive 
soul  within  him. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  belief  it  followed  that 
life  was  supposed  to  last  as  long  as  each  individual 


In  the  Great  Pyramid. 


Around  the  Pyramids  189 


enjoyed  the  union  of  body  and  Double;  yet, 
during  sleep,  in  the  course  of  certain  kinds  of 
illness,  accompanied  by  fainting  or  unconsciousness, 
the  Double  vanished;  after  sleep  and  swoons, 
when  man  regained  his  consciousness,  it  was 
because  he  recovered  his  Double.  Now,  what  we 
call  death  they  regarded  as  but  a  prolonged  swoon, 
unconsciousness,  apt  to  cease,  whenever  the 
Double  returned.  After  death,  each  of  the  two 
component  parts  of  man,  body  and  Double,  lived 
on,  but  separately.  In  order  to  render  death 
harmless,  it  was  necessary,  therefore,  to  preserve 
the  body  from  decomposition,  the  dismal  conse- 
quence of  separation.  Every  effort  had  to  be 
made  to  keep  it  intact,  so  that  the  soul,  its  Double, 
might  recognise  and  inhabit  it  again  on  its  return. 
It  was  necessary  also  to  provide  the  wandering 
soul  with  a  sheltering  place;  hence  the  neces- 
sity of  funeral  rites,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to 
preserve  the  body  and  secure  a  safe  abode  for  the 
soul. 

These  notions  alone  would  be  sufficient  to 
explain  the  transcendent  importance  of  the  tomb, 
life's  abiding-place,  according  to  the  Egyptians; 
but  primitive  people  are  rarely  satisfied  with  such 
simple  conceptions.  Although  they  dreaded  the 
temporary  absence  of  the  Double,  which  resulted 
in  sleep,  or  its  prolonged  absence,  which  resulted 


190         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


in  the  unconscious  life  of  death,  the  Egyptians 
entertained  a  beHef  still  held  by  many  savages 
at  present.  The  parting  of  soul  and  body  was 
perilous  only  when  it  occurred  independently, 
uncontrolled  by  the  will,  but  it  was  on  the  con- 
trary a  wise  thing  to  facilitate  the  exit  of  the 
Double  from  the  body  by  offering  it  a  safe  abode 
and  by  protecting  it  from  dangers.  Some  tribes 
entrust  their  souls  to  an  animal,  a  plant,  any 
object,  which  thus  becomes  a  sacred  being,  a 
totem;  other  men  prefer  hiding  the  soul  in  a 
secret  place,  or  a  fortified  house,  which  may  serve 
as  a  tomb  for  the  body.  In  Egypt,  pyramids  and 
tombs  were  but  such  "castles  for  the  Double,** 
built  by  the  Pharaohs  and  their  subjects  during 
their  lifetime ;  the  Doubles  were  expected  to  come 
there  and  inhabit  the  statues  of  the  living,  statues 
with  bodies  that  followed  a  general  type  but  with 
faces  bearing  a  resemblance  to  the  original,  like  a 
true  portrait.  The  soul  was  thus  protected  against 
dangers,  from  which  the  body  cannot  always 
escape.  As  long  as  the  body  was  living  the  ordi- 
nary life,  it  made  provision  for  the  care  of  its 
Double,  in  the  tomb;  great  dignitaries  of  the 
court  assumed  the  office  of  "slaves  to  the  Double'* 
of  the  Pharaohs;  private  people  secured  similar 
services  from  professional  priests,  by  means  of 


Around  the  Pyramids  19I 


contracts  and  endowments.  In  the  prime  of  their 
lives,  the  Egyptians  seem  to  have  been  haunted 
by  the  obsession  of  the  tomb.  To  construct 
from  early  youth  the  stronghold  in  which  the 
body  would  one  day  repose;  to  place  securely 
therein  the  statues  in  which  the  Double  might 
abide  ;^  to  go  there  on  festive  occasions  to  visit 
the  tomb  and  worship  one's  own  Genie  ;^  and  to 
secure  for  this  Genie  full  measure  of  protection,  so 
that  it  might  escape  the  many  vicissitudes  of 
wordly  life — such  was  the  ideal  of  a  happy  career 
in  Memphite  times.  When  death  occurred,  it 
was  said  that  the  body  "passed  over  to  its  Double," 
an  expression  that  seems  to  suggest  that  the  latter 
already  inhabited  the  tomb. 

The  Egyptian  tomb  was,  therefore,  above  all,  the 
house  where  resided  what  was  most  vital,  most 
real,  most  permanent  in  an  individual.  Should 
we  then  be  astonished  that  during  a  period  when 
this  comforting  belief  was  held  by  mankind,  kings 
and  subjects  wasted  their  wealth  in  order  to  build 
imperishable  dungeons,  fortresses  for  the  soul 
and  for  the  body?  It  was  an  inordinate  love  of 
life,  a  desperate  struggle  for  existence  which  fired 

'  See,  for  instance,  Maspero's  Contes  populaires,  3d  ed.,  p.  81. 
2  See  Stela  of  Hossi,  Cairo,  published  in  Musee  Egyptien,  PI. 
XXII. 


192        Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


the  minds  of  the  pyramid-builders.  In  these 
"eternal  places  of  abode,"  where  we  hunt  only 
for  death,  they  revelled  in  the  hope  of  eternal  life. 

This  was  possible  only  if  the  body  could  be 
revivified  after  having  succumbed  to  death.  If 
placed  in  the  tomb  in  its  natural  state,  a  rigid 
corpse,  subject  to  decomposition,  instead  of  being 
of  use  it  was  rather  an  encumbrance  to  the  Double. 
The  problem  of  preserving  the  body  by  mummi- 
fication was  solved  as  early  as  the  Memphite 
period.  It  would  be  of  great  interest  to  follow  up 
the  different  stages  of  the  process;  the  funeral 
rites  of  the  Thinite  period,  it  seems,  made  no 
provision  for  mummification,  and  are  difficult  to 
interpret.  In  the  very  ancient  tombs,  crouching 
and  contracted  corpses  are  found;  elsewhere, 
skeletons  are  dismembered,  the  heads  separated 
from  the  bodies,  the  bones  broken,  as  if  the  de- 
ceased had  been  made  a  victim  of  sacrifice;  or 
the  disjointed  bones  have  been  carefully  heaped 
up  with  the  head  placed  on  top,  in  order  to  give 
a  new  form  to  the  interred  body.  These  practices, 
to  which  rituals  of  later  time  make  frequent 
allusions,  were  abandoned  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Memphite  Kingdom  and  supplanted  by  rites  that 
assured  the  preservation  of  the  corpse  in  its 


Around  the  Pyramids  193 


entirety.  We  do  not  yet  know  for  certain  how 
this  change,  the  effects  of  which  were  so  enduring, 
was  brought  about;  when  the  Egyptians  refer  to 
this  new  method,  they  account  for  it  by  a  divine 
revelation,  a  benefit  conferred  on  them  by  the 
favour  of  the  god  Anubis.'  It  is  he,  known  as 
*'the  Lord  of  swathing-bands, "  who  is  said  to 
have  taught  men  the  art  of  preventing  decay  by 
the  removal  of  the  entrails,  by  means  of  the  natron 
bath  and  the  aseptic  substances,  and  by  the  use  of 
bandages  to  shield  the  body  from  contact  with 
the  air. 

The  body  kept  free  from  putrefaction  was  but 
an  inert  mummy,  blind,  deaf,  and  without  con- 
science. A  new  revelation  had  been  necessary 
to  teach  men  the  art  of  restoring  to  the  mummy 
its  faculties  and  recalling  the  soul  that  had  been 
set  free.  We  find  these  rites  established  at  the 
end  of  the  Illd  dynasty,  and  attributed  to 
Osiris,  "the  benevolent  god,"  ''the  Redeemer," 
who  benefited  mankind  by  subjecting  himself,  in 
advance  of  all  others,  to  the  test.  ^  It  was  related 
that  Osiris,  in  the  time  of  the  divine  dynasties 
(which  ruled  Egypt  before  the  Pharaohs),  had  been 

^  Maspero,  Histoire,  i,  pp.  112  and  178. 

3  In  the  tomb  of  Mten  (end  of  Illd  dynasty)  the  rites  of  the 
Ap-ro  are  executed. 

3  Maspero,  Rituel  de  Vemhaumement,  and  Historie^  i,  p.  18. 

13 


194         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


murdered,  then  dismembered  by  his  brother  Set, 
and  that  he  was  the  first  of  all  beings  to  know 
death.  By  the  magic  science  of  his  wife,  Isis,  of 
his  sister,  Nephthys,  of  his  son,  Horns,  of  Anubis 
and  Thot,  his  allies,  all  the  pieces  of  the  body  of 
Osiris  were  recovered,  rendered  aseptic,  and  re- 
constituted into  a  perfect  mummy.  In  order  to 
restore  motion  and  the  use  of  all  its  other  faculties 
to  this  lifeless  body,  Thot  and  Horus  touched  the 
mouth,  eyes,  and  ears,  and  unbound  the  arms  and 
legs  by  means  of  magic  instruments.  The  soul  was 
still  absent,  held  prisoner  by  Set.  Horus  and 
Thot  pursued  the  latter,  who  in  vain  entered  a 
bull,  a  gazelle,  a  cow,  a  goose,  in  the  hope  of  con- 
cealing himself.  From  the  heart  of  these  animals, 
captured  and  sacrificed,  the  soul  of  Osiris  was 
retrieved;  Horus  restored  it  to  his  father  and  by 
a  kiss  communicated  to  him  the  breath  of  life. 
Osiris,  thus  resuscitated  and  reunited  to  his  soul, 
became  the  exalted  Being,  surpassing  all  others, 
because  he  had  crossed  victoriously  over  the 
threshold  of  death  and  triumphed  over  the  great 
terror.  Such  a  being,  able  to  live  the  perfect 
life,  without  fearing  death,  from  which  he  had  been 
rendered  immune,  is  properly  considered  a  god.^ 
Osiris's  example  was  henceforth  to  be  followed 

^  Moret,  Le  Rituel  du  culte  divin  en  Egypte,  1902,  p.  200. 


Around  the  Pyramids  195 


by  all  who  live  in  heaven  and  on  earth  and  who 
some  day  must  die.  No  one  in  heaven  or  on 
earth  is  exempted  from  the  common  fate,  but  the 
example  of  Osiris  and  the  funeral  rites  instituted 
by  Horus  and  Thot  were  welcomed  as  a  means  of 
attaining  eternal  life.  Each  of  the  gods  chose  to 
experience  death,  that  they  might  be  revivified 
for  ever;  it  was  their  earthly  son,  the  Pharaoh, 
who  played  for  them  the  part  of  the  "beloved 
son,"  opening  the  mouth  of  his  father  and  kissing 
him,  to  call  back  the  soul.  Every  mortal  might 
hope,  in  the  same  way,  to  become  a  god.  On  the 
day  of  the  funeral,  the  eldest  son  of  the  family 
would  say  that  he  was  Horus  or  Thot,  and  would 
repeat  for  his  father  the  rites  of  the  great  mystery, 
by  virtue  of  which  the  deceased  became  an  Osiris. 

These  rites  are  known  to  us,  in  their  most 
ancient  form,  by  the  texts  found  in  the  pyramids 
of  Sakkarah  and  inside  the  mastabas.  They  were 
celebrated  in  the  pyramid-chapels,  which  have 
since  fallen  down,  and  in  the  mastabas,  of  which 
thousands  have  been  cleared  (Plate  XII,  2).  An 
important  part  of  the  funeral  chamber  was  the 
false  door,  out  of  which  grew  the  stela.  It  was 
supposed  to  lead  to  the  other  world,  the  residence 
of  the  Double.  Behind  its  solid  panels,  a  passage 
(serdab)  was  concealed,  in  which  the  statues  of 


196         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


the  Double  were  secluded;  below  the  door,  deep 
under  ground,  was  the  sepulchral  vault,  into  which 
the  mummy  was  to  be  let  down.  On  the  day  of 
burial,  the  body,  wrapped  in  bandages,  and  em- 
balmed according  to  the  processes  of  Anubis,  was 
brought  before  the  false  door,  or  door-shaped 
stela.  All  around  were  the  chief  mourners.  The 
wife  and  the  sister  of  the  deceased,  acting  as  if 
they  were  Isis  and  Nephthys,  came  to  weep  over 
and  take  care  of  Osiris.  The  eldest  son  went 
forth:  he  had  purified  and  clothed  himself  in  the 
skin  of  a  panther,  he  offered  the  lighted  incense, 
which  makes  divine,'*  and  wielded  the  bent  iron, 
which  Horus  used  of  old  to  open  the  mouth  of 
Osiris.  Near  the  son  stood  the  official  priest,  a 
papyrus  scroll  in  his  hand,  ready  to  prompt  the 
ritual  words  and  gestures,  if  memory  should  fail 
the  child  of  the  deceased  (Plate  XV).  There  were 
other  people  officiating,  and  the  relatives  and 
clients  assembled,  forming  a  kind  of  chorus, 
intensified  the  effect  of  the  words  and  gestures  by 
repeating  them.  Meanwhile,  the  sacrificers,  hav- 
ing slain  the-bull,  the  gazelle,  and  the  goose,  moved 
forward  bearing  the  thigh,  the  heart,  and  the 
head. 

Then  began  the  most  important  rites.  Ablu- 
tions and  fumigations  of  incense  rendered  the 


Gizeh. 


II.    A  Mastaba  with  Two  Doors. 
Plate  XII. 


Around  the  Pyramids  197 


body  free  from  all  physical  and  moral  impurities: 
"all  that  should  not  remain  in  it  falls  to  the 
ground."  Then,  Horus,  the  beloved  son,  pre- 
tended to  open  the  mouth,  the  eyes,  the  ears  of 
his  father  with  magic  instruments;  he  rubbed 
them  with  his  little  finger;  he  touched  them  with 
the  heart  and  the  thigh  of  the  victims,  while  he 
chanted  a  psalm:  "Arise,  father,  arise,  Osiris,  for 
I,  thy  son,  I,  Horus,  have  come  to  thee  to  wash 
thee,  to  purify  thee,  to  restore  thee  to  life,  to 
embrace  thy  bones,  to  gather  together  thy  frame, 
to  embrace  thy  fragments;  for  I  am  Horus,  re- 
modelling his  father.  ^  .  .  .  Horus  has  opened  thy 
eye,  that  thou  mayest  see  with  thy  eye,  .  .  .  thy 
mouth  has  been  opened,  and  it  is  Horus  with  his 
little  finger,  with  which  he  opened  the  mouth  of 
his  father  Osiris  ;3  thy  eyes  have  been  given  thee 
that  thou  mayest  see,  thy  ears  that  thou  mayest 
hear  that  which  goes  forth  from  thy  mouth  as 
words,  thy  legs  that  thou  mayest  walk  and  thy 
arms  that  thou  mayest  use  them.  And  the  son 
embraced,  with  both  arms,  the  corpse  of  his  father, 
he  drew  his  own  face  to  the  mummified  face,  so 
that,  during  this  embrace,  the  magic  vital  fluid 


^  Pyramide  de  Mirinri,  446.  ^  Pyramide  de  Teti,  264. 

3  Pyramide  de  Pepi,  i,  590. 

4  Formula  of  the  Middle  Kingdom  (El-Kab). 


198         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


might  pass  from  the  Hving  body  into  the  corpse, 
the  breath  of  Hfe  be  transmitted  from  mouth  to 
mouth.  The  chorus  then  chanted :  "  Horus  comes, 
he  embraces  thee,  Osiris.  .  .  .  Thy  son  Horus 
has  struck  Set,  plucked  out  his  eye  with  his  own 
hand,  and  he  has  given  it  to  thee  with  thy  soul, 
which  is  enclosed  in  it,  and  thy  shape,  which  is 
likewise  enclosed  in  it. "  ^ 

The  body  was  now  revivified  and  provided  with 
a  soul.  Provision  had  to  be  made  to  secure  food 
and  drink  for  his  eternal  life.  A  table  was  set  for 
the  mummy;  round  plates  were  left  there,  con- 
taining meat,  bread,  fruit,  wine,  beer,  liquors,  and 
water,  a  copious  meal,  the  menu  of  which  was 
inscribed  at  length  on  the  walls  of  the  tomb.  A 
few  choice  morsels  were  burned  upon  the  altar 
before  the  mummy,  who  was  supposed  to  feed  on 
the  smoke;  the  rest  supplied  the  table  at  which 
relatives  and  friends  took  their  places.  The  feast 
was  accompanied  by  dances  and  songs,  with  the 
music  of  flutes  and  harps.  Words  of  good  omen 
were  addressed  to  the  new  god:  ''Hunger,  do  not 
attack  that  Osiris  .  .  .  hunger  is  his  horror,  and 
he  does  not  eat  it;^  thirst  is  his  horror,  and  he 
does  not  drink  it.    O  gods,  you  have  taken  this 


^  See  texts  given  by  A.  Moret,  Rituel  du  cuUe  divin,  p.  88. 

2  Pyramide  de  Teti,  54.  3  Pyr amide  d'Ounas,  109. 


Around  the  Pyramids  199 


Osiris  among  your  company;  he  eats  of  what  you 
eat,  he  lives  on  the  things  you  live  on  ...  in 
this  land  to  which  he  repairs,  he  will  never  again 
have  hunger  nor  thirst."^ 

After  the  repast,  the  mummy  was  once  more 
purified  with  water  and  incense.  Now  it  was 
left  in  charge  of  those  who  slid  it  along  the  low 
passages,  down  to  the  deepest  recess  of  the  pyra- 
mid, or  to  the  bottom  of  the  mastaba.  After  the 
plug-blocks  had  been  lowered,  the  shafts  filled, 
this  corpse  was  to  be  ever  remembered  by  the 
living.  On  appointed  days,  rather  frequently, 
relatives  and  priests  met  before  the  false  door  and 
repeated  the  rites  that  had  vivifying  properties. 
The  mummy  was  no  longer  there,  but  on  the 
false  door  shaped  like  a  stela  was  seen  the  portrait 
of  the  deceased.  Sometimes,  in  the  recess  of  the 
false  door,  is  seen  the  upright  figure  of  the  defunct, 
with  the  left  leg  advanced  as  if  ready  to  descend 
the  flight  of  steps  that  leads  to  the  place  for 
mortals ;  ^  sometimes  half  the  body  or  the  face  alone 
is  seen  emerging  above  the  lintel;^  it  seems  as  if 
the  deceased  wished  to  look  out  and  enjoy  a  talk 
with  his  children.    Very  often,  a  narrow  channel, 

'  Pyramide  d'Ounas,  488.  > 

2  Tomb  of  Mera,  Sakkarah;  Plate  XIII,  2. 

3  Tomb  discovered  by  M.  Loret  at  Sakkarah,  Plate  XIII,  I. 


200         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


a  slit,  a  few  inches  wide,  connected  the  cultus 
chamber  with  the  serdah  where  the  statues  of  the 
Double  were  concealed;  through  this  opening 
passed  the  perfume  of  the  incense  and  the  smoke 
of  the  altar,  as  well  as  the  Doubles  of  the  offerings, 
which  made  their  way  to  the  divine  dead  man  and 
thus  created  about  him  a  half  ideal,  half  real  world, 
in  which,  henceforth,  he  was  to  spend  his  life 
eternal. 

Such  were  the  formulae  and  essential  proceed- 
ings of  that  "Ap-ro"  (opening  of  the  mouth)  the 
first  perhaps,  of  redemptory  rituals  that  humanity 
has  known.  The  pyramids  and  mastabas  became 
sacred  places,  in  which  every  dead  man  was  to  be 
revivified  as  an  Osiris,  a  living  god.  There  for 
many  centuries  was  sung  the  old  song,  that  still 
consoles  man:  **No,  thou  departest  not  dead! 
Living,  thou  goest  to  sit  on  the  throne  of  the 
gods.**' 

The  life  of  the  Double  in  the  pyramid  or  in 
any  other  tomb,  was,  the  Egyptians  believed, 
quite  in  line  with  that  led  before  the  tomb.  It 
was  the  comfortable  existence  enjoyed  by  wealthy 
men  on  earth,  but  without  the  contingencies  of 
misfortune  and  unhappiness,  inseparable  from 

^  Pyramide  d'Ounas,  206. 


Around  the  Pyramids  201 


human  destiny.  The  decorators  of  the  tomb 
represented  the  deceased  seated  at  the  table  of 
offerings;  his  wife  sits  or  stands,  with  her  arm 
thrown  round  his  shoulder ;  at  his  feet,  his  children 
play  with  a  dog  or  monkey.  Every  one  is  repre- 
sented at  a  happy  moment  of  his  existence ;  hence- 
forward the  Double  was  to  know  life  only  at 
its  best.  All  around,  the  servants  are  depicted 
bringing  food,  clothing,  furniture ;  the  manufacture 
or  production  of  each  offering  furnished  a  theme 
to  the  decorator.  To  explain  the  presentation 
of  the  ox's  thigh,  he  set  forth  animals  at  pasture, 
the  bull  leaping  the  cow,  the  calf  new  born,  and 
varied  scenes  of  husbandry,  up  to  the  sacrifice 
of  the  animal ;  the  offering  of  bread  is  accompanied 
by  processes  of  ploughing,  harvesting,  and  baking ; 
the  offering  of  wine  gave  an  opportunity  to  re- 
produce the  vineyards  and  the  vintage;  if  the 
offering  consisted  of  game,  whether  beast  or  bird, 
htmting-scenes  in  the  desert  were  depicted;  if 
of  fish,  the  artist  introduced  fishermen  with  hook 
and  nets  (Plate  XIV).  Every  piece  of  the  funeral 
equipment,  naos,  coffin,  vases,  clothing,  jewels, 
might  bring  about  the  description  of  the  manu- 
facturing processes;  carpenters,  founders,  weavers, 
jewellers,  etc., 'are  seen  at  their  work.    Even  the 

^  Maspero,  Etudes  egypHennes,  i,  p.  80. 


202         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


purchasing  of  provisions  at  market  and  household 
accounts  led  to  a  decorative  commentary.  The 
soul  and  the  body  of  the  deceased  were  supposed 
to  be  active  participants  in  the  actuality  of  the 
depicted  scenes;  the  acts  engraved  on  the  wall 
might  become  real;  every  figure  representing  a 
being  or  an  object  might  recruit  its  Double  and 
become  alive,  at  the  wish  of  the  god,  who  resided 
in  the  tomb. 

This  ideal  of  existence  satisfied  the  Egyptians 
for  several  centuries,  then  lost  its  interest  for 
them  and  seemed  unsatisfactory.  We  can  follow 
this  evolution  of  ideas  by  reading  the  formulas, 
changing  from  age  to  age,  on  the  funeral  stelae. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  IVth  dynasty  ''goodly 
offerings  and  a  goodly  burial-place  in  the  West" 
were  the  only  requests  addressed  to  the  gods 
Anubis  and  Osiris,  the  patrons  of  the  dead.  But 
soon,  a  longing  for  the  outside  world  overcame 
the  entombed  being.  The  Osirian  rites  had 
made  a  god  of  the  dead  man,  and  gods  live 
in  heaven.  The  good  sepulchre,  offered  by 
the  pyramid  or  mastaba,  was  expected  to  en- 
sure to  the  soul,  not  only  an  impenetrable  shel- 
ter, but  also  a  starting-point  for  the  journey 
to  those  celestial  regions  which  we  call  Paradise. 
The  texts  of  the  pyramids  of  Sakkarah  show 


Around  the  Pyramids  203 


that  significant  evolution  already  at  its  termina- 
tion. Through  what  stages  has  the  soul  passed 
in  travelling  from  the  necropolis  to  heaven? 
The  funeral  stelae  furnish  us  an  answer  as 
yet  incomplete. 

As  soon  as  we  read  that  the  defunct  wishes 
''to  wander  on  the  lovely  paths  of  the  West,^ 
where  the  liegemen  of  Osiris  are  wandering,"  it 
becomes  evident  that  the  soul  is  weary  of  its 
sepulchral  seclusion.  The  paths  of  the  West  led 
to  mysterious  countries,  where  the  beautiful  god- 
dess Amentit  (the  West)  welcomed  the  Double 
with  an  offering  of  bread  and  water;  if  he  ate  and 
drank,  he  became  the  friend  of  the  gods  and  went 
on  with  them.  Then  the  defunct  ''traverses  the 
fine  paths  accompanied  b}^  its  Double;  the  god 
takes  him  by  the  hand  and  leads  him  along  upon 
the  sublime  ways."  Now  he  arrived  at  the  fron- 
tier of  heaven.  Towards  the  East,  there  was  a 
ladder;  the  gods  held  it  firmly;  the  soul  climbed 
up  unafraid  and  foimd  at  the  very  top  Horns  and 
Set,  who  drew  it  into  heaven.^  If  there  was  no 
ladder,  a  ship  appeared,  which  was  to  conduct 
the  soul  to  the  celestial  banks,  where  an  obliging 

^  This  quotation  and  the  following  are  taken  from  stelae  of  the 
Vth  and  Vlth  dynasties. 

"  Pyramide  d'Ounas,  493;  de  Pepi,  i,  191 ;  de  Pepi,  ii,  974. 


204         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


god  facilitated  the  landing.^  A  third  way  of 
teaching  the  desired  goal  is  exemplified  when 
the  bird-soul  flies  to  heaven,^  or  when  the  ibis, 
Thot,  takes  the  soul  on  his  wings  and  bears  it  to 
heaven.  As  soon  as  the  soul  had  safely  arrived, 
the  gods  gave  it  welcome:  "Open  the  gates  of 
heaven,"  they  said  eagerly,  "accept  this  Osiris 
among  you,  that  he  may  have  eternal  life. 

In  heaven,  various  destinies  were  accorded  to 
the  Double  made  divine.  Each  destiny  brings 
to  mind  a  conception  of  Paradise,  held  in  former 
times  by  people  of  this  or  that  town,  which  was 
later  more  generally  applied  and  made  acceptable 
to  all  Egyptians.  The  most  cherished  was  that 
the  soul  inhabited  a  fertile  coimtry,  located  by  the 
theologians  of  former  times  on  the  path  followed 
by  the  sun  during  the  night.  Fields,  lakes, 
islands,  villages,  and  summer-houses  were  found 
there;  strong  gates  and  an  iron  wall  guarded  it. 
It  was  something  like  the  laeta  arva  of  the  Mneidy 
"an  idealised  Egypt  with  its  Nile,  its  lakes,  its 
luxuriant  vegetation  and  over  all  plentiful  har- 
vests.      It  was  called  Sekhet  lalu,  "land  of  the 

^  Pyr amide  de  Pepi,  650.  '  Pyr amide  d'  Ounas,  571. 

3  Pry  amide  de  Pepi,  i,  196. 

4  Cf.  Lef^bure,  "  Le  paradis  ^gyptien,"  in  the  Review,  Sphinx^ 
iii,  p.  195,  where  are  quoted  the  pyramidal  texts  relating  to  these 
conceptions  of  Paradise, 


Sakkarah. 


Bas-Reliefs  of  a  Funeral  Chamber  (Phtahhetep). 
Plate  XIV. 


Around  the  Pyramids  205 


reeds, "  in  imitation  of  a  certain  region  of  the 
Delta,  towards  Peluze,  in  the  ancient  kingdom  of 
Buto.  At  no  great  distance  extended  another 
Paradise,  "the  country  of  the  offerings"  (Sekhet 
hotpu).  There  destiny  was  still  more  propitious. 
In  the  fields  of  lalu,  the  soul  was  to  cultivate  its 
garden;  in  the  fields  of  the  offerings,  it  found  the 
table  all  set;  this  was  due  to  the  Doubles  of  the 
earthly  offerings,  which  also  took  the  heavenly 
road,  provided  they  were  burned  or  broken,  thus 
insuring  their  liberation.  Offerings  reached  the 
Sekhet  hotpu,  either  along  with  the  deceased,  or  in 
the  boat  which  carried  the  Sun  around  the  world. 
To  sail  in  the  solar  barge,  encircling  with  Ra  the 
daily  and  nightly  heaven,  while  managing  the 
oars  or  the  rigging,  to  be  one  of  the  crew,  com- 
posed of  the  stellar  gods,  this  was  the  most  envia- 
able,  glorious,  immaterial  destiny.  The  soul  to 
which  it  was  accorded,  left  the  earth  joyfully, 
steered  across  the  sky,  like  a  Luminous  Spirit, 
(Khou),  among  the  circumpolar  constellations  of 
the  North,  those  called  the  Imperishable" 
(Akhemou  sekou),  because  they  never  disappear 
from  the  visible  sky.  The  Egyptians  observed 
them  to  determine  the  hours,  especially  Ursa 
Major;  it  was  said  of  the  soul  that  it  dwelt  in  the 
land  of  the  hours  (Ounit),  that  it  ''governed  the 


2o6 


Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


night  and  guided  the  hours,"  thus  ruling  over 
space  and  time. ' 

In  the  following  ages,  these  ideas  furnished 
the  Egyptians  the  material  for  subtle  metaphy- 
sics and  were  copiously  expounded  in  theological 
treatises,  such  as  The  Book  of  the  Dead  and  The 
Book  of  what  there  is  in  Hades.  At  the  time  of  the 
pyramids,  however,  their  aspect  was  incomplete 
and  rather  material.  What  was  the  best,  most 
desirable  Paradise  had  not  yet  been  settled:  the 
soul  preferred  testing  them,  one  after  the  other. 
That  is  why  the  wish  could  be  formulated  that 
the  deceased  might  enjoy  these  different  mani- 
festations of  Paradise,  in  succession  or  simul- 
taneously : 

His  heart  has  been  given  back  to  this  Osiris,  and 
when  he  gets  to  heaven,  Anubis  comes  to  meet  him, 
Seb  extends  his  hand  to  him.  Thou  arisest,  thou  per- 
fumest  thyself  with  incense  in  the  lake  of  Hades,  thou 
purifiest  thyself  with  offerings  in  the  Fields  of  lalu, 
thou  sailest  in  the  heavens,  and  thou  lingerest  daily 
in  the  Field  of  Offerings,  among  the  gods.  Sit  down 
on  my  throne  of  iron,  for  thou  hast  taken  thy  white 
mace,  and  thy  flail,  thou  givest  laws  to  the  gods  .  .  . 
then  thou  takest  thy  course,  thou  sailest  about  thy 
lake,  like  Ra  along  the  banks  of  heaven.  Arise, 
and  pass  on.  Luminous  Spirit.^ 

^  Pyramide  d'Ounas,  i,  643.  Cf.  Lef6bure,  "Le  pays  des 
heures,"  Sphinx,  iv,  p.  8. 

3  Pyramide  de  Pepi,  ii,  1 145  and  following. 


Around  the  Pyramids  207 


Within  the  course  of  a  few  centuries,  the  human 
soul  had  moved  onward,  from  the  humble  ditch 
dug  in  the  sand  of  the  desert  to  the  starred  fields 
of  heaven.  **The  soul  in  heaven,  the  body  to  the 
earth, "  such  was  the  expression  for  life  beyond  the 
tomb,  at  the  time  of  the  pyramids.  Yet  the  soul, 
impelled  to  celestial  joys,  retained  the  privilege 
of  descending  to  earth,  to  its  own  tomb  so  pro- 
pitious to  material  joys.  In  its  bird-like  form 
it  flew  back  to  the  sepulchre,  perched  upon  the 
trees  of  its  domains,  passed  through  the  dumb 
wells  leading  to  the  coffin;  now,  resting  on  the 
heart  of  the  mummy,'  it  seemed  to  contemplate 
its  former  earthly  shape,  reminding  it  of  a  time 
w^hen  it  knew  nothing  as  yet  about  sublime  dwell- 
ings and  the  heavenly  life  of  the  gods.  ^ 

It  has  been  noticed  that  the  dead  man  made 
divine  found  in  heaven  a  fraternal  welcome:  the 
gods  stretched  out  their  hands  to  the  man  coming 
forward;  moreover,  he  took  his  seat  on  a  throne, 
wielded  mace  and  sceptre,  and  announced  his 
imperative  will  to  the  gods ;  admitted  as  a  brother, 
he  played  the  part  of  master.    This  point  is  most 

^  The  bird  is  represented  with  a  human  head  and  two  hands 
lying  on  the  mummy's  heart. 

'  After  the  pictures  on  funeral  papyri. 


2oS         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


characteristic  of  the  religious  conceptions  pre- 
valent at  the  time  of  the  pyramids:  man  did  not 
want  to  "deserve"  heaven,  he  entered  it  by- 
cunning  and  stayed  there  by  force. 

What  gave  man  this  might,  equal  or  even 
superior  to  that  of  the  celestial  beings?  It  was 
the  powerful  art  of  magic.  Memphite  Egypt  was 
still  at  that  stage  of  civilisation  where  man  did  not 
thoroughly  differentiate  his  own  nature  from  that 
of  beings  superior  to  himself,  whom  he  located 
in  heaven.  In  the  other  world,  as  in  this  one, 
every  being  possessed  a  body,  a  soul,  a  Double, 
submitted  to  the  same  good  or  ill  luck,  sensitive 
to  the  same  influences;  of  course,  the  inhabitants 
of  heaven  were  of  more  enduring  essence,  yet 
they  had  first  to  experience  death  in  order  to 
become  bona  fide  gods;  they  realised  eternal  life 
only  after  Osiris  had  revealed  to  them  the  means 
of  attaining  it.  Now  man  could  also  have  the 
benefit  of  the  Osirian  rites;  he  considered  himself, 
therefore,  equal  to  those  superior  beings,  who 
escaped  annihilation  only  by  virtue  of  the  same 
rites;  the  texts  of  the  pyramids  repeat  over  and 
over  agaiii  that  the  deceased  acts  and  lives  like  a 
god. 

Of  what  use  was  it,  then,  to  pray  to  the  gods? 
The  texts  of  the  Old  Kingdom  do  not  contain  any 


Around  the  Pyramids  209 


prayer;  man  did  not  implore  the  gods;  he  asked 
them  kindly  for  their  help  and  friendly  aid ;  hav- 
ing become  an  Osiris,  he  considered  himself  of  the 
same  blood  and  wanted  to  be  received  as  a  brother. 
In  case  the  gods  proved  hostile,  man  possessed 
the  means  of  destroying  their  resistance.  Magic 
had  taught  him  the  secret  relations  of  beings  and 
of  things;  its  laws  were  applicable  in  heaven,  as 
well  as  on  earth,  since  gods  and  men  were  of  the 
same  nature  and  subject  to  the  same  needs. 
Therefore,  that  Osiris  with  whom  man  identified 
himself,  owed  his  resurrection  to  magic ;  ever  since 
his  mouth  and  eyes  had  been  opened,  he  possessed 
the  creating  power  of  the  Word  and  the  fascinating 
power  of  the  eyes.  Similar  to  the  Demiurges,  who 
created  the  universe  by  seeing  beings  and  by 
naming  things,  the  sound  of  his  voice  called  in- 
to existence  all  that  he  desired  and  annihilated 
all  that  he  hated.  When,  therefore,  the  de- 
ceased arrived  in  heaven,  he  could  boast  to  all 
comers  that  his  power  was  equal  or  even  super- 
ior to  the  power  of  any  other  god.  By  way  of 
precaution,  the  priest  officiating  on  the  day  of 
the  funeral  used  to  read  an  incantation,  in 
which  the  deceased  accosted  the  inhabitants  of 
heaven  and  bragged  that  he  could  subdue  them 
by  terrifying  threats: 
14 


210  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


The  heavens  melt  into  water,  the  stars  are  waging 
war,  Sagittarius  goes  his  round,  the  bones  of  Akerou 
[constellations]  tremble  when  they  see  Ounas  eating 
men  and  feeding  on  gods.  .  .  .  The  genii  have  bound 
the  gods  for  Ounas,  they  have  fettered  them,  they 
have  cut  their  throats,  emptied  their  entrails  and 
cooked  them  in  their  burning  kettles.  It  is  Ounas 
who  devours  their  magic  and  eats  their  spirits,  and 
the  great  among  them  are  for  Ounas 's  repast  in  the 
morning,  the  medium  among  them  are  for  his  roast, 
the  small  among  them  are  for  Ounas' s  evening  meal, 
the  old  among  them,  gods  as  well  as  goddesses,  are 
for  his  furnace.  .  .  .  For  Ounas  is  mighty  among 
the  powerful;  what  he  finds  along  the  road,  he  eats 
greedily,  ...  he  has  eaten  the  wisdom  of  every  god.  ^ 

What  god  would  resist  this  all-ravaging  ogre? 
This  formidable  power  each  man  believed  resident 
within  himself,  provided  the  rites  had  been  fault- 
lessly executed,  and  he  boasted  of  it  in  his  epitaphs : 
am  a  Luminous  Spirit,  initiated  and  well 
equipped,  a  magician  who  knows  [the  power  of] 
his  mouth ! "  This  megalomania  went  so  far  that 
the  deceased,  on  meeting  the  supreme  god,  Ra, 
cried  out:  ''When  Pepi  went  to  heaven,  he  found 
Ra  in  front  of  him  .  .  .  and  Ra  knows  that  Pepi 
is  greater  than  he,  for  Pepi  is  more  luminous  than 
the  most  Luminous,  more  initiated  than  the 

^  Pyramide  d'Ounas,  496  and  following. 

=«  Inscription  of  Hirkouf ,  Vlth  dynasty  (Elephantine). 


Around  the  Pyramids  211 


Initiates."'  Thus  the  god  bore  the  reputation  of 
being  susceptible  to  the  terror  inspired  by  the  sug- 
gestions of  a  rival  who  "bluffed"  without  shame. 

One  may  readily  believe  that  the  gods  were  on 
their  guard  against  the  dead,  and  implacably 
repulsed  or  even  sent  to  the  block  ^  those  who 
arrived  in  heaven  with  inadequate  knowledge  of 
magic.  Woe  unto  the  man  who  had  not  at  his 
command  the  dreaded  formula:  "When  men 
receive  their  burial  with  quantities  of  bread,  and 
thousands  of  mugs  of  beer,  on  the  table  of  IChon- 
tamenti,  the  flesh  is  miserable  which  has  no  script 
[no  scroll].  .  .  .  The  script  of  Ounas  is  sealed  with 
the  great  seal,  and  verily  his  script  is  not  under 
the  little  seal."^  On  the  other  hand,  "He  who 
knows  this  chapter  of  Ra  and  executes  those 
magic  formulas  of  Horus,  is  acceptable  to  Ra, 
he  is  the  friend  of  Horus. "  ^  Man  had  no  illusions. 
He  knew  that  entrance  into  heaven  would  be  due 
neither  to  his  own  merit,  nor  to  the  benevolence 
of  the  gods.  "O  Pepi,  if  thy  soul  is  among  the 
Luminous  Spirits,  it  is  because  the  fear  of  thee 
agitates  their  hearts  ^  ...  it  is  because  of  [the 
power  of]  thy  book  over  their  hearts. "    Any  trick 


^  Pyr amide  de  Pepi,  i,  91. 
3  Pyramide  d'Ounas,  582. 
5  Pyramide  de  Pepi,  i,  20. 


'  Pyramide  de  Teti,  234. 
'^Pyramide  de  Pepi,  ii,  658. 


212         Times  of  the  Pharaohs 


against  the  gods  was  considered  fair;  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  VI th  dynasty,  there  was  brought  to 
the  court  a  dancing  dwarf  of  the  Danga  race, 
settled  in  the  region  of  the  upper  Nile.  This 
dwarf  had  created  such  a  sensation  among  the 
Pharaohs  that  the  gods  in  heaven  were  expected 
to  be  no  less  curious  to  see  him,  nor  less  kind  in 
their  welcome.  That  is  why  King  Pepi  does  not 
hesitate  to  cheat  the  credulous  genii,  who  ferry 
his  soul  over  the  lake  of  heaven:  ''Let  me  pass, 
says  he,  I  am  the  Danga  who  dances  before  the 
god  and  rejoices  the  heart  of  Osiris."  Owing  to 
this  stratagem,  the  soul  of  the  king  gained  admis- 
sion at  once. ' 

This  Paradise,  entered  by  force  and  cunning, 
had,  however,  become  after  centuries,  the  abiding 
place  of  truth  and  justice,  to  which  access  was 
obtained  after  the  soul  had  victoriously  stood  the 
well-known  Judgment  before  Osiris.  The  change 
may  be  noticed  even  at  the  time  of  the  pyramids. 
In  the  very  same  texts,  in  which  the  power  of 
magic  is  credited  with  so  many  brutal  triumphs 
the  idea  was  germinating  that  eternal  life  should 
be  achieved  not  by  force  or  wile  but  by  merit. 
The  human  soul  has  always  been  intricate  and 

^  Maspero,  Etudes  de  Mythologie,  ii,  p.  429  (Pyramide  de  Pepif 
i,  400;  de  Mirinri,  570). 


Around  the  Pyramids  213 


divided  in  its  aspirations.  At  the  same  time  that 
Osiris  taught  men  the  invincible  power  of  magic, 
he  made  manifest  to  them  moral  conscience;  he 
himself  represented  not  only  the  lucky  vanquisher 
of  death,  one  who  accidentally  escaped  it,  he  was 
likewise  ''the  god  who  loves  justice." 

In  the  beginning,  Osiris  acted  as  judge  for  a 
very  practical  reason.  Those  who  ensured,  at 
great  cost,  a  perpetual  service  of  offerings  to  their 
Doubles  took  care  to  prevent  robbery  by  calling 
possible  robbers  before  the  bench  of  the  priests  of 
Osiris,  "patron  of  cemeteries."  "If  somebody 
should  enter  this  tomb  for  an  evil  purpose,  that  is, 
to  rob  like  a  bird  of  plunder,  he  will  be  brought 
to  judgment  by  the  great  god,  master  of  heaven, 
in  the  place  where  justice  is  given."  Beforehand, 
the  deceased  justified  himself  against  reproaches, 
by  making  his  own  panegyric  serve  as  a  testimony 
of  mortality.  "I  am,"  he  said,  "the  beloved  of 
my  father,  the  darling  of  my  mother,  a  man  de- 
voted to  his  brothers  and  servants ;  I  have  given 
food  to  the  starving,  clothes  to  the  naked;  I  have 
been  a  father  to  the  orphan,  a  husband  to  the 
widow,  a  support  to  the  aged,  I  have  enshrouded 
him  who  had  no  son.  Never  have  I  given  cause 
for  complaint  to  any  one.  "^    Such  assertions  are 

^  Texts  of  the  IVth  and  Vlth  dynasties. 


214         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


especially  interesting  from  a  moral  point  of  view, 
but  they  assume  here  the  form  of  an  anticipated 
pleading  before  a  tribunal  of  this  world.  This  jus- 
tification is  inspired  by  a  more  generally  accepted 
sentiment  and  is  of  deeper  significance  when  we 
come  across  such  expressions  as:  "I  have  told 
every  day  the  truth  the  god  loves. "  ^  The  progres- 
sive development  of  this  idea  led  to  the  conclusion 
that  Osiris  preferred  the  righteous  and  just  man; 
the  defunct  would,  therefore,  point  out  that  his 
conduct  was  in  keeping  with  Osiris,  for  he  would 
be  the  more  assured  of  enjoying  eternal  life  if 
he  had  lived  in  accordance  with  the  dictates  of 
justice. 

To  ascertain  whether  the  defunct  was  the 
righteous  man  he  professes  to  be,  an  inquest  was 
necessary,  and  only  after  he  had  successfully 
passed  this  test  was  he  to  obtain  access  to  Para- 
dise. Thus  originated  the  idea  of  a  Judgment 
of  the  dead,  conducted  by  the  gods  of  the  Osi- 
ride  family.  Messrs.  Erman  and  Lefebure^  have 
pointed  out  the  distinctive  interest  attached  to 
certain  very  short  texts,  found  in  the  pyramids, 
where  the  idea  of  judgment  is  merely  mentioned 
but  not  yet  developed.     Ounas  possesses  creative 

^  Lepsius,  Denkmdler,  ii,  8i. 

>  Mgyptische  Zeitschrift,  1893,  p.  75. 


Around  the  Pyramids  215 


power  commensurate  with  his  doings.^  Tefen 
and  Tefnouit  examine  him;  Mait  (the  truth) 
listens  to  him;  Shu  stands  as  witness;  Mait  decrees 
that  he  may  wander  all  over  the  world  and  go 
where  he  likes.  .  .  .  Ounas  comes  forth  to-day  as 
a  living  soul.  Justice  is  what  he  takes  along  with 
him."^  Thus  the  magic  power  of  the  creating 
Word  was  made  dependent  in  Ounas 's  case  on  the 
merit  of  his  actions.  Of  course  it  must  always 
be  remembered  that  a  magic  formula,  appro- 
priately introduced,  could  affect  the  balance  of  the 
scales  of  justice  in  favour  of  the  defunct,  should 
his  conscience  prove  too  heavy  for  him  to  be 
admitted  to  the  other  world.  It  is  true,  never- 
theless, that  from  that  time  truth  held  a  higher 
place  in  the  estimation  of  the  Egyptians.  In  the 
Theban  period  are  found,  in  the  liturgic  books, 
the  following  words  of  a  truly  Biblical  character 
in  reference  to  men  called  to  live  in  Paradise: 
Those  who  have  practised  justice  when  on  earth 
are  called  to  the  abode  of  the  Joy  of  the  World, 
the  palace  where  one  lives  by  Justice.  '* 

Why  should  we  be  surprised  that  the  men  who 
were  first  confronted  with  religious  problems 
should  have  entertained  such  contradictory  ideas 

*  Sphinx,  viii,  p.  34.  » Pyramide  d'Ounas,  453. 


2i6  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


about  Ethics  and  Magic,  about  will  and  conscience? 
After  thousands  of  years,  men  are  still  divided 
on  the  same  questions.  Similar  antimonies  draw 
us  nearer  to  the  contemporaries  of  the  Pharaohs, 
instead  of  separating  us  from  them. 

Such  general  ideas  about  the  meaning  of  life, 
the  purpose  of  the  universe  and  of  man  were  in 
process  of  formation  in  Egypt  during  the  fourth 
millennium  before  our  era.  We  may  apply  to 
Egypt  what  Fustel  de  Coulanges  said  after  his 
study  of  primitive  civilisations  among  the  Indo- 
European  people:  "Perhaps  it  w^as  at  the  sight 
of  death  that  man  conceived,  for  the  first  time, 
the  idea  of  the  supernatural,  and  entertained  the 
hope  that  there  might  be  something  beyond  that 
which  was  visible.  Death  was  the  first  mystery 
and  opened  to  him  the  way  to  the  other  mysteries. 
Death  raised  his  thought  from  the  visible  to  the 
invisible,  from  what  is  transitory  to  what  is  eternal, 
from  the  human  to  the  divine."^ 

Such  men  as  Cheops  and  Pepi  knew  how  to 
give  to  the  conceptions  of  their  contemporaries  a 
tangible  and  everlasting  form,  in  erecting  the 
pyramids,  or  citadels,  which,  with  all  their  mighty 
weight,  protected  the  bodies,  and  with  their  for- 
midable height  aspired  to  reach  the  sky.  Herodo- 

*  La  Cits  antique,  chap,  ii. 


Around  the  Pyramids  217 


tus  speaks  of  these  kings  as  tyrants  who  crushed 
their  people  in  order  to  build  vainglorious  tombs, 
monuments  of  pride  and  egoism.  Such  a  view- 
point is  not  supported  by  fact.  In  the  eyes  of  their 
contemporaries,  the  Pharaohs  were  rather  bene- 
factors, who  put  great  ideas  into  tangible  form 
and  enabled  a  whole  nation  to  conquer  Paradise. 
They  could  not  have  carried  on  their  labours 
during  several  centuries  and  achieved  such  colossal 
results  had  they  not  been  supported  by  popular 
enthusiasm,  similar  to  that,  which,  less  than  nine 
centuries  ago,  promoted  the  construction  of  the 
European  cathedrals.  The  beautiful  lines  of 
Sully  Prudhomme  describe  a  mason  who  died, 
despised,  while  building  the  pyramid  and  crying 
out  in  vain: 

II  monte,  il  va,  cherchant  les  dieux  et  la  jus- 
tice. .  .  . 

He    climbs,  he    mounts,    seeking    gods  and 
justice.  .  .  .") 

Yet,  this  is  not  the  complaint  of  a  victim,  it  is 
the  clamour  of  a  whole  primitive  nation,  a  cry 
of  hope,  of  fear,  of  will,  rejoicing  that  a  way  to 
heaven  has  been  forced  open  by  the  triangular 
apex  of  the  pyramid. 


CHAPTER  V 
"The  Book  of  the  Dead" 

In  the  time  of  the  pyramids  (4000  B.C.),  the 
Pharaohs  in  Memphis  had  aheady  a  complete 
system  of  philosophy  relative  to  the  hereafter; 
but  only  the  members  of  their  family  and  their 
favourites  shared  with  them  the  privilege  of 
immortality;  it  was  necessary  to  be  a  ''friend  of 
the  King"  to  enjoy  a  tomb  consecrated  by  those 
mortuary  rites  which  assured  life  everlasting. 
After  a  few  centuries,  however,  we  see  the  redemp- 
tive doctrines  extended  from  the  narrow  circle  of 
the  court  to  the  entire  Egyptian  society.  Such 
funeral  texts  as  had  been  used  exclusively  for  the 
kings  of  the  Vlth  dynasty  (three  thousand  37'ears 
before  our  era),  were  more  generally  applied  and 
are  found  engraved  in  the  tombs  or  on  the  coffins 
of  ordinary  citizens. 

A  paradise  which  all  might  attain,  bestowed  so 
unexpectedly,  gave  rise  to  anxieties  unknown 
before.    The  honour  of  obtaining  divine  life,  of 

218 


**The  Book  of  the  Dead"  219 


being  identified  with  Osiris,  the  god  of  life  and 
death,  was  rather  dangerous.  The  Osirian  de- 
ceased partook  of  the  peril  as  well  as  the  glory 
of  the  Good  Being;  he  was  confronted  by  the 
attacks  of  all  the  enemies  of  Osiris  and  was  beset 
by  the  wiles  of  the  wicked.  It  became  necessary 
to  protect  him,  to  shield  his  body,  and  endow  his 
soul  with  magic  defence ;  hence  the  mummification 
of  innumerable  corpses  and  the  countless  papyrus- 
scrolls,  called  The  Book  of  the  Dead,  laid  near  them 
for  their  protection,  in  every  Egyptian  necropolis. 

The  problem  of  preserving  the  body  from  de- 
composition had  been  easily  solved  by  the  em- 
balmers;  Herodotus'  describes  them  at  work  thus: 

First,  they  draw  the  brains  through  the  nostrils, 
partly  by  means  of  a  bent  iron,  partly  by  means  of 
drugs  introduced  in  their  heads.  Next,  they  make 
an  incision  in  the  stomach  with  a  sharp  Ethiopian 
stone;  through  this  opening  they  draw  the  intestines, 
clean  them  and  pass  them  through  palm- wine,  then 
again  through  aromatic  substances;  next,  they  fill 
the  stomach  with  myrrh,  cinnamon  and  other  per- 
fumes, then  sew  it  up  again.  This  done,  they  put  the 
corpse  in  salt,  and  cover  it  with  natron  for  seventy 
days.  At  the  end  of  this  period,  they  wash  the  body 
and  swathe  it  in  linen  bandages. 

An  examination  of  the  mummies  shows  that  the 
^IL.  86. 


220  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


many  swathing-bands  were,  indeed,  a  kind  of 
protective  armour.  After  the  body  had  been 
anointed  with  holy  oil,  the  cavities  of  stomach  and 
abdomen  were  filled  not  only  with  aromatic  sub- 
stances but  also  with  statuettes  and  amulets.  A 
wax  plate,  stamped  with  a  symbolic  eye,  was 
used  to  protect  the  wound  in  the  side.  The  face 
and  fingers  were  gilded,  so  that  the  virtue  of  the 
indestructible  metal  might  enter  the  body.  On 
the  breast,  a  heart-shaped  figure  marked  the  seat 
of  the  soul;  scarab,  hawk,  and  uraeus  were  meant 
to  protect  the  trunk  and  forehead;  all  over  and 
along  the  body  little  figures  were  stationed,  like 
vigilant  sentinels.  Linen  pads  were  then  placed 
over  the  body  to  give  symmetry  to  the  contours, 
and  a  second  wrapping,  loose  or  tight,  fashioned 
the  head,  bust,  and  legs.  A  large  shroud,  fastened 
with  a  piece  of  linen,  bound  the  forehead,  and, 
crossing  over  the  chest,  was  adorned  with  a  figure 
of  Osiris  worshipped  by  the  deceased. 

This  equipment,  however,  afl^orded  no  protec- 
tion until  the  priests  had  recited  certain  formulae. 
There  is  a  ''ritual  of  embalming"  telling  us  about 
the  name,  use,  and  prophylactic  properties  of  every 
bandage  and  of  every  statuette.  Properly  inter- 
preted these  various  articles  are  not  linen,  statues, 
or  spices:  they  are  living  gods,  Isis,  Nephthys, 


The  Book  of  the  Dead 221 


Horus,  Thot,  who,  under  the  appearance  of  oil, 
swathing,  and  amulets,  surround  the  mummy  with 
their  arms,  defend  it  with  their  bodies  and  with 
all  their  supernatural  strength. 

As  a  means  of  defence,  this  corpse,  inhabited  by 
the  gods,  had  the  formulas  engraved  on  the  walls 
or  along  the  sides  of  the  sarcophagus;  the  lines 
of  inscriptions  were  arranged  so  that  the  eyes  of 
the  mummy  might  read  them  easily.  During  the 
era  of  the  New  Theban  Kingdom  (about  1500  B.C.), 
when  the  coffins,  being  adapted  exactly  to  the 
contours  of  the  mummy,  took  on  the  "anthropoid '* 
shape,  the  decorator  no  longer  found  a  space 
suitable  for  inscribing  the  verses  of  the  ritual. 
There  was,  therefore,  slipped  into  the  cardboard 
sarcophagus  a  roll  of  papyrus  containing  a  more 
or  less  complete  collection  of  the  necessary  texts. 
The  substitution  in  turn  of  the  coffin  for  the  tomb, 
then  of  the  papyrus  for  the  coffin  thus  afforded 
rich  and  poor  alike,  the  benefit  of  the  formulas 
of  salvation.  This  Book  of  the  Dead  is  found  by 
the  thousands  deposited  near  the  mummies. 

Now,  in  the  course  of  the  three  thousand  years 
which  separated  the  Theban  coffins  from  the 
Ptolemaic  papyri,  the  make-up  of  such  collec- 
tions varied  just  as  much  as  their  outward  form. 
The  first  collection  known,  that  of  the  pyramids, 


222  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


comprises  four  hundred  and  fifty-three  chapters. 
Only  a  few  of  them  were  transcribed  in  the  Theban 
period,  and,  out  of  the  newer  texts  written  on  the 
coffins,  many  enjoyed  but  a  passing  vogue  and  are 
not  to  be  met  again  in  the  papyri.  About  the 
time  of  the  Psamteks  (600  B.C.),  the  Egyptians 
perceived  the  necessity  of  arranging  these  sacred 
texts  in  some  definite  order ;  a  choice  was  made  of 
one  htmdred  and  sixty-five  chapters,  classified  in  an 
arbitrary  manner,  which  was  followed,  neverthe- 
less, by  the  later  copyists.  The  best  copy  of  this 
revised  edition  is  a  papyrus,  twenty-one  yards 
long,  preserved  in  the  Museum  of  Turin  and 
published  by  Lepsius.  The  chapters  are  arranged 
in  vertical  lines  with  headings  carefully  indicated 
in  red  ink,  and  with  delicately  traced  ornamenta- 
tions in  black  or  coloured  outlines,  serving  as  a 
commentary  on  the  text. 

Such  a  book  could  not  be  dispensed  with  as  the 
dead  had  to  recite  it  in  order  to  obtain  eternal 
life.  The  undertakers  had  it  for  sale,  in  complete 
or  abridged  copies,  with  or  without  the  ornamental 
vignettes,  ready  for  use;  as  the  name  of  the  dead 
had  to  be  repeated  in  each  chapter,  a  blank  space 
was  left  for  its  insertion  by  the  purchaser.  Most 
of  these  cheap  editions  are  quite  incorrect:  the 
words  are  badly  spelled  or  have  been  carelessly 


*'The  Book  of  the  Dead  "  223 


transcribed;  some  sentences  have  been  omitted, 
others  are  repeated ;  there  is  a  want  of  precision. 
These  blunders  prove  that  the  copyist  did  not 
understand  this  very  ancient  ritual.  The  sacred 
books,  indeed,  teem  with  allusions  to  mythical 
events,  with  names  that  are  unusual  and  figures 
that  need  quite  a  commentary  to  be  properly 
interpreted.  These  enigmas  puzzled  the  theolo- 
gians of  the  Theban  period  as  much  as  they 
puzzled  us.  They  added  to  the  text  annotations, 
often  contradictory,  which  the  scribes  copied 
haphazardly.  It  is  interesting  for  us  to  see  the 
priests  thus  at  work  in  an  attempt  to  interpret 
the  texts  of  a  hoary  age,  texts  which  were  already 
corrupted. 

The  texts  in  the  pyramids  teach  the  rites  that 
redeem  man  from  death  and  ensure  his  con- 
tinuance of  life  in  the  grave  and  in  heaven.  They 
do  not  give  directions  how  to  find  the  right  way 
to  paradise,  how  to  overcome  foes  and  obstacles, 
and  how  to  stand  the  test  of  the  Last  Judgment. 
Sage  advice  and  practical  information  about  this 
matter  was  to  be  gathered  from  the  different 
chapters  of  The  Book.  The  man  who  knew  the 
formulae,  when  in  the  flesh,  had  nothing  to  dread 
after  death.  ''He  who  sayeth  this  chapter  and 
who  hath  been  purified  in  water  of  natron,  he 


224  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


shall  come  forth  by  day,  after  his  burial;  he  shall 
accomplish  all  the  transformations  his  heart  sug- 
gests to  him,  he  shall  come  forth  from  every  fire, 
in  sooth."'  But  the  placing  of  the  salvation  text 
on  the  mummy  was  sufficient:  ''Chapter  to  be 
written,  with  sticky  ink  and  in  colour,  on  a  roll 
of  royal  papyrus,  to  be  suspended  about  the 
mummy  on  the  day  of  burial.  With  this  talis- 
man round  his  neck,  the  defunct  is  among  the 
gods  .  .  .  he  is  a  god  for  ever."^  As  a  rule  the 
defunct  himself  was  supposed  to  speak,  to  recite 
the  text,  and  to  fight  against  his  enemies.  Yet 
it  was  considered  sufficient  to  insure  the  mummy 
from  running  any  risk  whatever  if  the  priest  read, 
at  the  time  of  the  funeral,  from  a  copy  of  The 
Book.  Woe  unto  the  unwise  man  who  was  buried 
without  The  Book!  "He  who  knoweth  not  this 
chapter  cannot  come  forth  by  day."^ 

The  Book  of  the  Dead  is  divided  into  four  parts. 
The  last  is  a  hodge-podge  of  all  sorts  of  magical 
prescriptions;  the  first  three  parts  guide  the 
defunct  from  earth  to  heaven,  by  various  ways 
and  by  means  of  diverse  doctrines.  As  a  com- 
pilation of  that  sort  must  necessarily  be  incoherent, 
there  was  placed  at  the  beginning  of  the  three 

I  Chap.  XX.         ^  Chap.  CI.  3  Chap.  LXXXVI. 


The  Book  of  the  Dead 225 


divisions  a  synthetic  chapter,  the  1st,  XVIIth,  and 
LXIVth,  where  is  found  a  symbolic  explanation 
of  the  destinies  of  the  soul  and,  as  it  were,  a 
summary  of  The  Book, 

First  Part, 

Above  the  chapters  from  I  to  XVI,  the  vign- 
ettes depict  the  funeral.  Priests  and  mourning- 
women  are  represented  with  appropriate  gestures 
around  the  sarcophagus ;  the  procession,  ready  to 
cross  the  Nile,  is  getting  into  the  bark  pell-mell 
with  the  offerings,  the  animals  which  are  to  be 
sacrificed,  and  the  mummy.  When  all  have 
arrived  before  the  tomb,  the  mummy  is  set  up  on 
a  heap  of  sand  and  the  bull  is  cut  up;  a  priest, 
wearing  as  a  mask  a  dog's  head,  plays  the  part  of 
Anubis,  and  opens  the  mouth  of  the  defunct,  while 
repeating  the  rites  which  will  make  of  him  a  living 
god.  On  the  other  side  of  the  coffin,  the  deceased 
is  now  seen  resuscitated,  freed  from  his  wrappings ; 
he  bends  his  knee  before  Ra  and  gets  into  the 
celestial  bark. 

The  heading  of  Chapter  I  implies,  indeed,  that  it 
was  to  be  recited  on  the  day  of  the  funeral.  To 
be  well  received  by  Osiris,  the  defunct  declared 
boldly  that  he  was  Thot,  Horus,  or  one  of  those 
who  had  fought  for  the  god,  when  his  body  torn 

15 


226         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


to  pieces  had  to  be  snatched  from  the  typhons. 
The  defunct  also  asserted  that  he  filled  different 
priestly  offices:  he  had  gone  through  all  the 
degrees  of  initiation;  his  purity  and  holiness  were 
evident;  on  the  day  of  judgment  **no  sin  of  his 
was  found  in  the  balance'*;  he  will,  therefore, 
enter  the  gates  of  paradise  and  sit  at  the  table  of 
the  gods.  In  these  texts,  as  in  those  of  the 
pyramids,  the  defunct  tried  to  abuse  the  gods 
with  impudent  declarations.  The  recital  of  the 
following  chapters  enabled  the  defunct  to  live 
after  death;  to  travel  over  the  earth,  the  region 
of  cemeteries  (the  Amenti),  and  heaven,  without 
being  stopped  by  his  enemies;  as  for  the  serpent, 
Apophis,  its  cunning  could  be  baffled  by  the  spell 
of  a  wax  figure,  and  it  was  finally  stamped  under 
the  feet  of  the  victorious  soul.  As  a  conclusion, 
the  soul  intoned  a  hymn  to  Ra:  have  come 
unto  the  land  of  Eternity ;  .  .  .  I  steer  my  way 
across  the  sky.  .  .  .  Hail  to  thee,  Father  of  the 
gods,  may  thy  radiant  face  be  favourable  unto 
me!'' 

Second  Part, 

Now  we  are  at  the  gates  of  the  other  world. 
Chapter  XVII,  the  most  important  of  the  whole 
collection,  introduces  the  second  part.  The  vign- 
ette shows  us  the  defunct  in  company  with  the 


The  Book  of  the  Dead  "  227 


great  gods.  The  text  assumes  the  ambitious 
task  of  "resuscitating  the  spirits."  Speaking, 
himself,  as  he  does  in  Chapter  I,  the  defunct 
boasts  that  he  is  the  Creator  of  the  Universe 
under  his  manifold  aspects;  he  reveals  to  us  the 
origin  of  the  world,  also  man's  destiny,  leading 
him  from  earth  towards  heaven,  provided  that 
the  good  and  the  right  triumph  in  him  on  the  day 
of  the  Last  Judgment.  Each  sentence  in  this 
chapter  is  first  presented  in  a  concise,  summarised 
form.  In  some  coffins  of  the  Xlth  dynasty,  such 
condensed  formulae  are  given  without  any  further 
development;  but  even  in  this  remote  period,  the 
literal  meaning  of  the  words  was  beyond  the 
intelligence  of  the  common  people;  the  theolo- 
gians had  to  append  to  each  clause  of  the  sentence 
a  commentary,  in  the  form  of  questions  and 
answers.  This  glossary  was  sometimes  found 
obscure,  and  required  a  second  and  even  a  third 
explanation;  it  is  in  this  triple  equipment  of 
critical  commentary  that  the  Saite  Recension  has 
kept  for  us  the  XVIIth  chapter. 

The  deceased,  now  informed  about  the  mys- 
teries, musters  all  his  energy  for  future  combats 
and  for  the  great  test  of  judgment.  He  entreats 
Thot  to  grant  him  the  magic  voice  that  sounds 
right,  speaks  true,  and  destroys  error;  this  power 


228         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


shall  be  his  own  if  "the  crown  of  creative  voice*' 
is  placed  upon  his  head.  Meanwhile,  the  gods 
open  his  mouth  with  the  sacred  implement  of  iron, 
by  which  Osiris's  eyes  and  mouth  were  forced 
open;  one  by  one,  magic  charms,  conscience,  will, 
and  heart  are  given  him.  A  battle  must  be  fought 
immediately  against  the  typhonic  animals,  croco- 
diles, serpents,  tortoises,  and  red  asses,  which 
seek  to  devour  the  ''magic"  of  the  deceased,  in 
order  to  overcome  and  annihilate  him;  but  he 
brandishes  his  spear  and  thrusts  it  at  the  croco- 
diles, which  pitifully  turn  away  their  heads.  He 
nails  tortoises  and  serpents  to  the  ground  and 
pierces  the  reptiles  even  when  they  have  taken 
refuge  on  the  back  of  the  ass.  To  fight  against  the 
monsters  he  uses  deceit;  for  instance,  he  shouts 
to  the  crocodile:  "Get  thee  back,  crocodile,  for 
I  live  by  reason  of  the  magical  words  which  I  have 
by  me;  that  which  thou  hatest  is  in  my  belly;  I 
have  eaten  Osiris's  neck;  I  am  Set."  Elsewhere, 
he  must  assert  just  the  contrary:  "I  am  Ra,  I  am 
Osiris,"  and  he  also  boasts  that  each  part  of  his 
body  is  a  living  god,  able  to  defend  himself: 
"There  is  not  one  of  his  limbs  that  is  not  a 
god  ...  he  cannot  be  seized  by  the  arm,  nor 
held  back  by  the  hands;  neither  men  nor  gods, 
nor  shades,  nor  the  dead,  no  one  can  do  him 


"  The  Book  of  the  Dead  "  229 


violence.  He  escapes,  also,  from  those  who 
attempt  to  cut  off  his  head  or  to  poison  him  with 
filth:  ''That  which  is  an  abomination  unto  me, 
I  do  not  eat;  the  abomination  is  filth;  I  do  not 
eat  filth;  I  live  upon  bread  and  beer."^' 

Now  the  end  of  the  ordeal  approaches:  Toum 
appears,  carrying  in  his  hand  the  inflated  sail, 
symbolic  of  the  breath  of  life;  Nouit,  the  fair 
goddess  of  the  sycamore,  comes  forth  from  the 
tree  to  offer  him  bread  and  water:  "O  thou, 
sycamore  tree  of  Nouit,"  cries  out  the  deceased, 
grant  me  the  water  which  dwelleth  in  thee,"  and 
after  receiving  his  libation,  he  says:  "I  open  the 
gates  of  heaven,  I  have  passed  through  the  doors 
of  the  earth." 

Third  Part, 

Chapter  LXIV,  at  the  beginning  of  the  third 
part,  claims  to  give  "in  a  single  chapter  the 
rites  of  coming  forth  by  day";  it  is  an  attempt 
at  synthesis,  probably  recent.  There  are  found, 
in  more  obscure  form  and  without  explanatory 
comment,  the  general  ideas  already  expounded  in 
Chapter  XVII:  the  origin  of  the  Universe;  the 
destiny  of  man.  "Stretch  out  your  arms  unto  me, 
ye  gods,  who  have  proceeded  from  my  mouth," 

^Chap.  XLII.  ='Chap.  LII. 


230         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


cries  out  the  deceased;  "  I  rise  again  whole;  I  soar 
to  the  sky,  I  hover  above  the  earth.  ...  I  have 
entered  the  sanctuary,  I  come  forth  a  Luminary,  I 
shall  look  upon  the  forms  of  men  for  ever.  He 
who  knoweth  this  chapter,  he  possesseth  the 
creative  voice  upon  earth  and  in  the  other  world; 
he  taketh  on  all  the  forms  of  the  living.  This 
chapter  was  found  in  Hermopolis  upon  a  block  of 
iron  and  of  alabaster  inscribed  in  letters  of  lapis, 
under  the  feet  of  the  god  (Thot),  in  the  time  of 
King  Mycerinus,  by  the  royal  prince  Hordidiff, 
w^hen  he  was  journeying  about  to  make  an  inspec- 
tion of  the  temples ;  it  contained  a  hymn  that  put 
the  prince  in  ecstasy.  He  brought  it  to  the  King 
with  rapture,  as  soon  as  he  had  knowledge  of  this 
great  mystery.  ..." 

The  thing  that  Thot  revealed  to  men  through 
the  agency  of  a  holy  man  in  rapture  was  the 
possibility  of  "coming  forth  by  day,"  i.e.,  of 
living  again,  after  death,  all  the  forms  of  life. 
The  gates  of  heaven  and  earth  were  opened  to 
the  deceased;  we  see  him  proceeding  on  his  way 
and,  with  a  gold  walking-stick  in  his  hand,  wander- 
ing among  gods  and  men.  A  series  of  very  old 
chapters '  has  preserved  for  us  the  names  of  a  cycle 
of  popular  divinities  whose  forms  the  deceased 

« Chaps.  LXXVI-LXXXVIII. 


"The  Book  of  the  Dead"  231 


liked  to  assume.  Such  divinities  were  typified  by 
animals,  the  hawk,  the  phenix,  the  heron,  the 
swallow,  the  goose,  the  serpent,  and  the  crocodile; 
also  by  plants,  like  the  lotus  flower.  To  live  again 
under  these  forms  was  tantamount  to  identifying 
oneself  with  the  local  gods;  the  latter,  indeed, 
filled  the  place  once  occupied  by  the  totemic 
animals  of  primitive  Egypt.  Possibly  we  have 
here  a  conception  of  the  remotest  antiquity, 
antedating  by  many  years,  the  solar  and  Osirian 
theories;'  the  future  life,  according  to  this  con- 
ception, is  still  nothing  more  than  a  metem- 
psychosis, a  migration  of  the  soul  into  beings  and 
things.  ;But  soon  The  Book  brings  us  back  to 
divinities  of  more  recent  time. 

In  addressing  the  gods  of  Heliopolis  and 
Abydos,  the  deceased  no  longer  conceives  of  the 
future  life  as  a  migration  into  a  divine  form:  he 
reverts  to  the  more  human  ideal  of  paradise,  to 
the  conception  of  a  life  lived  in  the  rich,  luxuriant 
meadows  of  the  Elysian  Fields.  Owing  to  the 
help  of  Thot  and  Anubis,  he  does  not  mistake  his 
way ;  now,  we  see  him  on  the  bank  of  the  infernal 
river:  he  finds  there  a  boat  ready  to  take  him 
over;  yet  the  Egyptian  Charon,  sitting  at  the 

^  Cf.  Wiedeman, "  Quelques  remarques  sur  le  culte  des  animaux 
en  Egypte,"  ap.  Muscon,  1905  p.  123. 


232  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


rudder,  and  the  boat  itself  ask  him  questions; 
if  he  can  tell  the  names  of  the  god  and  of  each  part 
of  the  skiff,  he  will  prove  by  his  answers  that  he 
knows  the  formulas  necessary  for  his  salvation: 

thou  guardian  of  the  mysterious  boat,  I 
hasten,  I  hasten,  I  come  to  see  my  father  Osiris.'* 

"Tell  me  my  name,"  saith  the  Hull. 

"Darkness  is  thy  name." 

"Tell  me  my  name,"  saith  the  Mast. 

"He  who  leadeth  the  great  goddess  on  her  way 
is  thy  name." 

"Tell  me  my  name,"  saith  the  Sail. 

"Nouit  (the  heaven)  is  thy  name.  ..." 

"He  who  knows  this  chapter,  he  shall  enter  the 
Elysian  Fields;  bread  and  beverages  shall  be 
given  unto  him,  and  he  shall  eat  of  the  barley  and 
wheat,  seven  cubits  high,  which  the  servants  of 
Horus  shall  reap  for  him  .  .  .  and  he  shall  come 
forth  from  the  Elysian  Fields  in  any  form  he 
pleaseth."^ 

After  an  invocation  to  the  Spirits  of  the  East 
and  of  the  West,  the  deceased  enters  paradise; 
the  vignettes  show  us  its  fertile  fields,  still  un- 
ploughed  or  covered  with  huge  crops;  a  river  is 
winding  through  them  and  sunlight  and  water, 
spreading  over  them,  effectually  fertilise  the  soil.  ^ 

^Chap.  XCIX,  2  Chap.  CX. 


The  Book  of  the  Dead  "  233 


There  is  no  longer  any  reptile  there,  nor  any  dan- 
gerous fish,  nor  anything  to  be  dreaded.  The 
chosen  ones  "were  sitting  down  peacefully  on 
the  bank  of  the  water,  in  the  shade  of  the  tall, 
evergreen  trees,  and  they  breathed  the  cool 
breeze  of  the  North.  They  fished  with  the  line 
among  the  lotus  flowers,  they  got  in  a  boat 
and  had  their  servants  tow  them  along;  or, 
sometimes,  they  deigned  to  paddle  themselves 
and  they  drifted  about,  slowly,  on  the  canals; 
they  himted  the  birds  in  the  thickets,  or  retired 
under  their  painted  kiosks  to  read  stories,  or 
play  draughts,  or  meet  their  wives  ever  young 
and  ever  fair."^ 

According  to  the  oldest  beliefs,  the  dead  gave 
some  of  his  leisure  to  work:  he  would  hold  the 
arms  of  the  plough  drawn  by  two  oxen,  cut  the 
wheat  with  the  scythe,  and  pluck  the  stalks  of  flax 
by  handfuls.  But  soon,  a  formula  of  The  Book 
rendered  it  unnecessary  for  him  to  do  any  task; 
it  had  to  be  placed  on  one  of  those  statuettes  of 
wood  or  glazed  earth  that  are  foimd  by  the 
thousands  in  every  necropolis.  They  represent  a 
man  standing,  his  body  compressed  in  a  mummy 
sheath,  his  hands  placed  against  his  breast. 

^  Maspero,  Histoire,  i,  p.  194,  according  to  the  vignettes  in 
The  Book  of  the  Dead. 


234         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Taking  the  posture  of  a  soldier  with  his  piece  at 
port  arms,  he  holds  the  hoe,  the  spade,  and  bag  of 
seeds,  that  are  the  invariable  accompaniments  of 
field-labour.  These  statuettes  were  supposed  to 
represent  the  servants  that  any  man,  even  the 
poorest,  might  summon  in  the  next  world;  they 
were  called  "answerers'*  (oushaibtiou)  because 
they  answered  the  biddings  of  the  deceased:  "O 
thou,  answerer,  if  thou  be  called  in  the  service 
of  the  Osiris  N  .  .  .  ,  to  do  any  task  connected 
with  the  labours  which  are  to  be  undertaken  in  the 
underworld,  such  as  tilling  the  fields,  filling  the 
water-courses,  bringing  the  sand  from  the  East 
to  the  West,  (answer) :  ' I  am  here,  I  am  here.  * 

In  former  times,  during  the  Memphite  period, 
access  to  paradise  and  all  its  material  joys  was 
granted  to  any  one,  good  or  bad,  who  knew  the 
formulas.  Later,  the  destiny  of  man  was  made 
dependent  upon  his  morality.  Therefore,  in  the 
following  chapters,  the  deceased  proceeds  towards 
Abydos,  knocking  at  the  door  of  the  realm  of 
Justice,  and  coming  before  the  assessors  of  Osiris 
to  confess  the  purity  of  his  conscience:  have 
come,  as  a  perfect  shade,  to  cause  Justice  to  rise 
toward  him  who  loves  it."''  He  then  enters  "the 
Hall  of  Double  Justice,  where  man  separates  him- 

»Chap.  VI.  "Chap.  CXXIV. 


The  Book  of  the  Dead  235 


self  from  his  sins,  that  he  may  behold  the  faces  of 
the  gods." 

Such  is  the  heading  of  the  well-known  Chapter 
CXXV,  which  like  Chapter  XVII  is  of  tran- 
scendent importance.  In  it  the  destiny  of  men  is 
directed  towards  paradise  or  hell,  in  accordance 
with  their  merits.  The  deceased  kisses  the  earth 
at  the  threshold  of  the  Judgment  Hall.  At  the  end 
of  the  Hall,  Osiris,  the  Good  Being,  the  Redeemer 
and  Redresser,  seated  in  a  shrine  guarded  by  a 
frieze  of  uraei,  awaits  his  son  "who  comes  from 
the  earth."  In  the  centre  stands  a  great  balance; 
close  by  stands  Mait,  the  Lady  of  Right  and 
Truth,  who  is  ready  to  weigh  the  heart  of  the 
deceased.  Not  far  away  a  hideous  beast,  half 
crocodile  and  half  hippopotamus,  Amait,  the 
Eater,  turns  its  jaws  toward  Osiris,  as  if  to  ask 
permission  to  devour  the  newcomer.  All  around 
the  Hall,  crouching  on  their  heels  in  Oriental 
fashion,  are  forty-two  divinities,  draped  in  their 
shrouds.  It  is  a  jury  representing  the  forty-two 
provinces  of  Egypt,  chosen  to  judge  the  deceased. 
The  latter  presents  a  humble  petition:  he  comes 
to  justify  himself  of  the  forty- two  canonical  sins ; 
each  member  of  the  jury  deals  with  one  sin  and 
typifies  the  chastisement  of  it.  "Hail  to  ye, 
Masters  of  Justice,  hail  to  thee,  Great  God, 


236         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Master  of  Right  and  Truth!  I  have  come  to 
thee,  my  Lord,  I  am  brought  before  thee  to  view 
thy  beauty !  For  I  know  thee,  I  know  thy  name, 
I  know  the  names  of  all  the  forty-two  divinities 
who  are  with  thee  in  the  Hall  of  the  Two  Truths, 
living  upon  the  torn  bodies  of  sinners,  revelling 
in  their  blood,  on  the  day  when  account  is  rendered 
of  the  lives  of  men  before  the  Good  Being.  I  am 
bringing  Truth  and  I  have  destroyed  my  sins  for 
you." 

There  follows  an  enumeration  of  the  sins  which 
the  deceased  denies  having  committed;  this 
"Negative  Confession"  represents  a  code  of 
morals.  The  deceased  makes  first  a  general  and 
impersonal  sketch  of  the  situation;  then  justifies 
himself  before  each  Judge: 

I  have  not  done  ill ;  I  have  perpetrated  no  violence ; 
I  have  not  committed  theft;  I  have  not  caused  a 
man  to  be  slain  deceitfully;  I  have  not  purloined  the 
offerings  (of  the  gods) ;  I  have  not  uttered  a  false- 
hood; I  have  not  made  (any  man)  weep;  I  have  not 
been  impure;  I  have  not  slain  the  sacred  animals; 
I  have  not  damaged  lands  which  were  ploughed;  I 
have  not  been  a  slanderer;  I  have  not  been  given  to 
outbursts  of  anger;  I  have  not  committed  adultery; 
I  have  not  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  words  of  truth ;  I  have 
not  practised  magic  against  the  king  or  against  my 
father;  I  have  not  defiled  the  water;  I  have  not 
caused  the  slave  to  be  ill-treated  by  his  master;  I 


The  Book  of  the  Dead  237 


have  not  sworn  (in  vain) ;  I  have  not  made  false  the 
beam  of  the  balance ;  I  have  not  taken  away  the  milk 
from  the  mouth  of  children;  I  have  not  snared  the 
birds  of  the  gods;  I  have  not  forced  back  the  water 
in  its  time  (when  it  should  flow) ;  I  have  not  cut  off 
a  channel  (in  its  course) ;  I  have  not  extinguished  a 
fire,  in  its  time  (when  it  should  burn);  I  have  not 
scorned  God  in  my  heart.  I  am  pure,  I  am  pure, 
I  am  pure! 

The  case  was  decided,  for  Thot  and  Anubis  had 
tested  the  balance,  putting  in  one  of  the  scales  the 
heart  of  the  deceased,  in  the  other  a  figure  of 
Truth ;  the  poise  of  the  two  pans  vouched  for  the 
sincerity  of  the  confession.  Thot  wrote  on  his 
tablets  the  result  of  the  weighing  and  said  to 
Osiris:  "The  deceased  has  been  weighed  in  the 
balance ;  there  is  no  wrong  in  him ;  his  heart  is  in 
accordance  with  Truth,  the  balance  is  exact; 
there  is  no  doubt,  all  his  members  are  perfect.** 
Osiris  pronounced  his  sentence;  the  latter  is 
sometimes  found  in  the  tombs,  transcribed  on 
tablets  as  an  authentic  document :  ' '  The  deceased 
may  retire  triumphantly,  to  go  wheresoever  he 
pleaseth,  by  the  spirits  and  the  gods.  He  shall 
not  be  repulsed  by  the  guardians  of  the  gates  of 
the  West"  (Plate  XVI). 

He  will  not  suffer  punishment  *'who  possesseth 
this  chapter  inscribed  on  a  brick  of  pure  clay, 


Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


taken  from  a  field  upon  which  no  team  has  trod- 
den.'* Yet,  the  next  chapter  brings  the  deceased, 
thus  justified,  before  a  lake  of  fire,  guarded  by- 
four  dog-headed  apes:  "O  those  four  apes,  who 
judge  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich,  and  who  feed  on 
truth,  destroy  every  fault  in  me,  annihilate  my 
sins."  '*We  destroy  thy  faults,  we  annihilate 
thy  sins,"  answer  the  guardians  of  the  fire.  Is 
this  lake  of  fire  a  kind  of  purgatory,  an  ante- 
chamber to  the  abode  of  the  just? 

Having  stood  the  test  victoriously,  the  deceased 
has  become  the  equal  of  the  gods  of  Abydos  or 
Heliopolis;  his  voice  prevails  wherever  he  be, 
for  it  utters  the  Truth;  "order  is  given  that 
he  may  undergo  his  transformations."^  There- 
fore, he  passes  through  the  gates  of  heaven,  of 
earth  and  of  the  underworld,  like  the  soul  of  Ra." 
He  may  at  will  choose  his  destiny;  he  may  go 
into  the  solar  barge,  where  he  becomes  Ra  incar- 
nated, "for  the  double  of  the  god  has  been  joined 
to  him  whom  he  loves."  ^  He  may  also  take  his 
place  in  the  Osirian  paradise.  He  has  to  learn  the 
names  of  all  the  gods,  his  brothers  (Osiris  alone  pos- 
sessed about  a  hundred  names  which  people  re- 
cited in  litanies) ,  also  the  names  of  the  seven  halls 
of  paradise,  of  the  fourteen  gates,  of  the  fourteen 

'  Chap.  CXXVIII.  '  Chap.  CXXXIII. 


*  The  Book  of  the  Dead 239 


dwellings,  as  well  as  the  names  of  their  guardians. 
He  who  knows  the  names  of  things  and  of  beings 
possesses  their  secret  and  has  control  over  them. 
Having  now  the  key  to  the  supreme  mysteries, 
the  deceased  has  knowledge  of  everything  that 
a  god  should  know;  he  feels  himself  to  be  one  of 
the  divine  family:  ''the  gods  surround  him  and 
appreciate  him,  for  he  is  like  one  of  them."' 

Now  that  we  have  given  a  brief  outline  of  The 
Book,  let  us  try  to  penetrate  into  the  mysteries 
which  the  Egyptian  priests  were  so  proud  of 
teaching,  and  the  knowledge  of  which  made 
man  like  imto  the  gods.  "Your  eyes  shall  be 
opened,'*  says  the  serpent  in  Genesis,  '*ye  shall 
be  like  unto  the  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil." 

The  Book  of  the  Dead  is  not,  according  to  the 
usual  definition,  merely  a  guide  for  the  traveller  to 
the  next  world,  or  a  manual  of  the  perfect  dead; 
its  purpose  is  to  give  the  key  to  the  essential 
problems,  concerning  gods  and  men,  and  to  meet 
the  wishes  of  the  devout  souls  who  ''hunger  for 
religious  belief,  are  curious  about  their  origin,  and 
full  of  anxiety  concerning  their  own  destiny." 
Whence  does  man  come  and  whither  does  he  go  ? — 
this  is  the  fundamental  question  that  The  Book 

'  Chap.  CXLVIII. 

*  De  Roug^:    Etudes  sur  le  Rituel  funeraire,  i860. 


240         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


attempts  to  answer;  in  this  respect,  the  two  most 
important  parts  of  The  Book  are  Chapters  XVII 
and  CXX V ;  the  one  is  the  Genesis,  the  other  the 
Gospel  of  the  Egyptian  Holy  Scriptures.  They 
contained  secrets  not  to  be  revealed;  they  were 
transmitted  from  father  to  son  as  rites  of  the 
family  cult,  but  with  what  precaution !  '  *  Thou  shalt 
not  allow  these  chapters  to  be  seen  by  any  man 
except  thyself ,  thy  father  or  thy  son  .  .  "Let 
this  be  known  by  no  one,  except  thyself  .  .  ."^ 
''This  is  a  real  mystery  known  by  no  man,  in  any 
place  .  .  ."^  ''This  book  is  the  greatest  of  mys- 
teries. Thou  shalt  not  allow  any  man  to  see  it. 
It  is  an  abomination  to  make  it  known ;"»  .  .  . 
take  good  heed  that  it  be  not  seen,  except  by 
thyself  for  him  who  taught  it  thee."^ 

How  was  the  Universe  created?  This  question 
soon  finds  its  way  to  the  lips  of  children,  and  it 
framed  itself  upon  the  lips  of  men  in  the  child- 
hood of  the  race.  "This  book  shall  let  thee 
know  what  happened  at  the  beginning."^ 

At  the  beginning  of  the  world,  nothing  existed 
but  the  abyss  of  primordial  Water,  the  Nu.  In 
that  time,  according  to  the  texts  in  the  pyramids, 

^Chap.  CXXXIII. 

» Chaps.  CXXVI,  CXLIV,  CLXVIII. 

3  Chap.  CLXI.         4  Chap.  LXII.  s  Chap.  XLVIII. 

6  Chap.  CXLVIII. 


*^The  Book  of  the  Dead  "  241 


"there  were  as  yet,  no  heaven,  no  earth,  no  men; 
the  gods  were  not  yet  bom,  there  was  as  yet 
no  death."  ^  In  the  water  floated  the  Spirit  of 
the  primeval  god,  Toum;  he  bore  within  him  the 
power  of  generating  things  and  beings.  Toum 
passed  from  inertia  to  action  by  emitting  the  one 
phrase :  * '  Come  to  me ; "  ^  then  Toum  created  the 
sun,  Ra,  out  of  himself,  and  sent  him  forth  from 
him.  Are  then  Toum  and  Ra  father  and  son? 
No;  the  two  together  form  one  person;  ''for  the 
god  is  an  indivisible  monad,  bearing  within  itself 
the  power  of  generating  its  own  existence."^ 

In  brief,  at  the  dawn  of  time,  there  sounded  the 
creative  Word,  and  there  was  Light.  The  theolo- 
gians agreed  upon  the  basis  of  this  doctrine,  but 
the  name  of  the  Creator  was  in  dispute:  it  is  to 
Osiris  that  the  priests  of  Abydos  attributed  the 
"Come  to  me,"  prelude  of  creation;  the  priest- 
hood of  Heliopolis  boasted  that  it  was  Toum  who 
uttered  it.  For  the  common  folk,  the  difficulty 
was  to  understand  how  Light  could  have  existed 
in  an  inert  state,  in  the  water  of  Nu,  without 
being  extinguished  by  the  water.  This  difficulty 
was  overcome  by  means  of  allegories:    Ra  in  the 

'  Pyr amide  de  Pepi,  i,  663. 

3  In  The  Book  of  the  Dead,  the  day  of  creation  is  called 
"Day  of  come  to  me." 

3  Brugsch,  Religion  und  Mythologie. 


242         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Nu  was  a  hawk,  with  both  eyes  closed;  when  he 
opened  them  the  sun  shone;  or,  he  was  a  child 
hidden  in  a  lotus  flower;  when  the  flower  came 
out,  the  sun  rose  from  it. 

Toum-Ra  organised  Chaos;  he  sent  forth  from 
himself,  without  feminine  co-operation,  two  ele- 
ments, air  and  fire,  under  the  form  of  a  couple 
of  different  sex,  Shou  and  Tafnouit.  Another 
couple,  Seb  and  Nouit,  personified  earth  and 
heaven,  placed  one  above  the  other ;  the  air,  Shou, 
slipping  between  them,  separated  the  goddess, 
Heaven,  from  her  husband.  Earth.  Cruel  parting : 
if  heaven  surrounds  earth  on  all  sides,  it  is  because 
the  arms  and  legs  of  the  goddess  still  touch  earth ; 
Shou  persists  in  holding  up  the  starry  body,  in 
the  position  later  assumed  by  Atlas  bearing 
heaven.  If  earth  shows  a  distorted  surface,  it  is 
because  Seb  tries  to  struggle  against  Shou;  he 
raises  himself  on  one  elbow  and  bends  one  knee, 
but  remains  petrified  in  this  attitude.  From 
heaven  and  earth  were  born  Osiris  and  Isis 
(water  and  fecundated  earth),  Set  and  Nephthys, 
(the  barren  ground  of  the  desert) ;  the  antagonism 
between  fertile  earth  and  desert  found  its  expres- 
sion in  the  myth  of  Osiris  and  Set  struggling 
against  each  other,  like  good  and  evil.  Those 
first  four  couples,  who  begat  the  other  gods, 


The  Book  of  the  Dead 243 


formed,  with  Toum,  *'the  great  Eunead,  or  Nine 
(gods),  which  is  in  HeHopoHs";  The  Book  sums 
up  this  theory  by  saying  that  Toum-Ra  "trans- 
formed the  inert  into  eight  gods,"  by  drawing  out 
of  Chaos  eight  elements,  until  that  time  inactive 
and  confused.  ^  Now,  the  great  mystery  revealed 
to  the  dead  is  this:  man  is  also  a  divine  sub- 
stance; he  is,  like  the  gods,  an  emanation  from 
Ra;  at  the  time  of  creation,  he  flowed,  as  a  tear, 
from  the  eyes  of  the  Creator,  whereas  the  gods 
went  forth  from  mouth.  Along  with  man,  all 
matter  was  emitted  from  the  divine  eye,  pro- 
ceeding, as  it  were,  from  Light.  Nothing  existed 
in  the  Universe  until  the  Creator  saw  beings  and 
things  and  named  them.  O  thou  who  didst 
reveal  thyself  for  the  first  time,  when  no  god 
existed,  when  the  name  of  no  thing  was  as  yet 
known.  .  .  .  When  thou  didst  open  thy  two  eyes 
and  didst  see  with  them,  there  was  Light  for 
everybody.  .  .  .  O  god,  thou  who  begettest  gods, 
men  and  things!" 

The  whole  world  is  part  of  the  divinity :  * '  Thou 
art  the  heaven,  the  earth,  the  water,  the  air  and 
they  who  dwell  therein."  The  world  is  but  the 
form  of  the  divine  spirit:    "Ra  coming  forth 

»  The  Book  of  the  Dead,  Chap.  XVII,  Naville's  inter- 
pretation. 


244         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


from  the  Nu,  it  is  the  god-soul  creating  matter, 
that  is  to  say,  its  own  body."^ 

If  the  Universe  is  but  the  body  of  the  divine 
soul,  the  deceased,  to  whom  this  secret  is  revealed, 
becomes  aware  of  his  real  nature.  A  particle  of 
the  divine  whole,  endowed  with  soul  and  body,  in 
the  image  of  his  Creator,  he  sums  up  in  himself  all 
that  exists.  The  past  hides  nothing,  the  future 
promises  nothing  that  is  not  already  in  him.  It 
is  not  a  mere  lesson  in  theology  that  the  initiated 
reads  in  Chapter  XVII  of  The  Book;  he  lifts  with 
enthusiasm  the  veil  of  appearances  and  proclaims 
the  revelation  of  his  true  nature. 

I  am  Toum,  he  who  existed  alone  in  the  Nu;  I 
am  Ra,  when  he  rises  in  the  beginning  to  govern  what 
he  has  created.  ...  I  am  the  Great  God,  who  gave 
shape  to  himself,  that  is  to  say,  the  Nu,  the  father  of 
the  gods. 

Who  is  that? 

(Comment) :  That  is  Ra,  the  maker  of  his  own 
limbs,  that  become  the  gods  in  the  retinue  of  Ra. 
I  am  Yesterday  and  I  know  To-morrow. 
What  is  that  ? 

(Comment) :  Yesterday  is  Osiris  (death) ;  To-mor- 
row is  Ra  (the  future). 

I  am  this  great  Bennon  (Heron),  who  is  in  Helio- 
polis ;  I  am  the  law  of  the  existence  and  of  the  beings. 

Who  is  that? 

(Comment):  The  Bennon  is  Osiris  in  Heliopolis. 
»  The  Book  of  the  Dead,  Chap.  XVII,  papyrus  of  Soutimes. 


The  Book  of  the  Dead 245 


The  law  of  the  existence  and  of  the  beings  is  his  body; 
or  in  other  words,  it  is  the  infinite  duration  of  time 
and  eternity.  The  infinite  duration  of  time  is  the 
daytime,  eternity  is  the  night. 

What  proportion  of  these  symbols  did  the 
ordinary  Egyptian  understand?  If  the  initiated 
alone  were  capable  of  realising  the  pantheistic 
explanation  of  the  Universe  (divine  matter  pro- 
duced of  itself,  and  divine  throughout),  the 
ignorant,  at  least,  knew  that  man  descended  from 
the  gods;  his  divine  origin  ruled  his  destiny. 

To  live  upon  earth,  then  to  die  in  order  to 
become  a  god  again — such  was  the  present  con- 
dition of  all  the  beings  emanating  from  the 
Creator.  This  destiny  implies  so  many  sorrows 
that  common  people  could  not  be  expected  to 
understand  wh}'-  the  descendants  of  Toum  were 
doomed,  by  some  caprice  of  their  father,  to 
undergo  that  unfortunate  experience,  an  earthly 
life.  The  priests,  who  receive  the  divine  revela- 
tions, taught  their  brethren  that  the  earth,  in  its 
prime,  ''in  the  time  of  god  Ra,"  was  an  Eden  of 
perfect  happiness.  Man,  whose  name  in  Egypt- 
ian is  Tem,  was  made  in  the  image  of  Toum,  w^ho 
is  always  represented  in  human  form.  Toum, 
also  called  Atoum,  is,  therefore,  man  par  excellence. 


246         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


These  circumstances  recall  those  pertinent  to  the 
Biblical  Adam,  whose  name  also  means  the  first 
man,  as  well  as  man  in  general. ^  How,  then,  could 
the  living  image  of  the  Creator  be  condemned  to  a 
life  full  of  affliction?  Oriental  lore  found  a  satis- 
factory explanation:  man,  intoxicated  with  his 
liberty  and  eager  for  knowledge,  revolted  against 
his  Father;  he  was  urged  by  the  serpent  and  the 
woman. 

A  similar  tradition  can  be  traced  in  Egypt. 
M.  Lefebure,  who  made  eminent  contributions 
to  this  subject,  has  pointed  out  the  similarity 
between  the  story  of  Adam  in  paradise  and  a 
scene  from  the  underworld  reproduced  in  the 
tomb  of  Ramses  VI,  (about  1200  B.C.),  and  on  a 
Saite  coffin  in  the  Louvre.  "A  virile  personage  is 
standing  before  a  serpent,  with  two  legs  and  two 
arms,  who  offers  him  a  red  fruit,  or  at  least  a 
little,  round  thing,  painted  red.""*  The  tree  of 
life  and  knowledge  is  well  known  in  Egypt ;  in  one 
of  the  oldest  chapters  of  The  Book,  the  chapter 
"giving  to  the  dead  divine  knowledge,'*  the 

^  Lefebure,  "Le  Cham  et  TAdam  ^gyptiens;"  ap.  Proceedings  of 
Society  of  Biblical  Archceology,  1893. 

2  Ed.  Naville:  "La  destruction  des  hommes  par  Ra;"  ap. 
Transactions  of  Society  of  Biblical  Archceology,  iv,  p.  i.  The 
figures  have  been  reproduced  by  Lanzone  in  his  Dizionario  di 
Mitologia  Egizia,  PI.  CLXXII. 


*^The  Book  of  the  Dead" 


247 


deceased  is  invited  to  rest  like  a  bird  upon  the 
beautiful  sycamore  tree,  bearing  the  fruit  of  life: 
"whosoever  standeth  under  the  tree  is  a  god." 
In  either  case,  the  relation  between  the  above 
facts  and  the  revolt  of  man  against  his  Creator  is 
not  explained;  but  the  revolt  was  for  the  Egyp- 
tians an  indisputable  fact.  An  account  of  it 
has  come  down  to  us  in  the  tombs  of  the  Theban 
kings  (i 500-1200  B.C.).  It  was  about  the  end 
of  the  reign  of  Ra;  the  god  called  into  council  his 
first-born,  Shou  and  Tafnouit,  Seb  and  Nouit,  and 
said  to  them:  "Behold,  the  men  who  were  born 
of  me,  speak  evil  words  against  me.  Tell  me 
what  you  will  do  in  this  matter.  I  have  waited 
and  I  have  not  killed  them  before  hearing  you." 
The  council  approved  of  destroying  all  the  living; 
Ra  entrusted  his  daughter,  Hathor,  with  this 
duty;  for  several  days  she  slaughtered  men  and 
stamped  in  their  blood;  drunk  with  carnage,  she 
would  have  exterminated  everything  living,  when 
the  god,  overcome  with  pity,  interfered  by  means 
of  a  stratagem.  Seven  thousand  jars  were  filled 
with  mandrake,  macerated  in  the  blood  of  men; 
the  liquor  was  spread  over  the  fields  and  turned 
the  goddess  from  her  intent;  "she  drank  to 
satiety  and  no  longer  perceived  the  men."  A 
few  survivors  of  mankind  came  then  to  the 


248  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Creator,  offering  to  fight  the  surviving  rebels  who 
were  the  last  victims  that  fell.  Ra  formed  an 
alliance  with  men  and  forgave  them  in  the  follow- 
ing terms:  ''Your  sins  are  remitted  to  you;  the 
murder  (of  the  rebels)  is  accepted  in  lieu  of  the 
murder  (of  all  men);  hence  the  virtue  of  sacri- 
fices.'* M.  Naville,  who  first  translated  this  text, 
has  clearly  shown  its  interest:  "The  idea  which 
led  to  the  institution  of  sacrifice  is  the  same  as  that 
found  among  the  Hebrews  and  the  Greeks."' 
The  death  of  the  culprit,  for  whom  an  animal 
victim  was  later  substituted,  was  intended  to 
ward  off  punishment  from  the  rest  of  mankind: 
through  a  sacrifice,  mankind  may  be  redeemed. 

There  is  no  other  analogy  between  the  de- 
struction of  men  by  Ra  and  that  recorded  in 
Genesis,  The  Book  of  the  Dead  has  retained,  how- 
ever, an  account  of  the  punishment  of  men  by 
water.  It  is  a  dialogue  between  the  deceased  and 
several  divinities,  Toum  among  them.  To  a 
question  put  by  the  deceased,  Toum  replies  in 
these  words:  shall  undo  what  I  have  done. 
This  earth  shall  be  flooded  and  become  water,  as 
it  was  in  the  beginning.  I  shall  remain  alone 
with  Osiris."^ 

'  Naville,  Religion  des  anciens  Egyptiens,  1905,  p.  183. 
'Ibid.,  p.  190. 


"  The  Book  of  the  Dead 249 


Texts  of  this  kind  are  scarce  and  not  as  yet 
perfectly  intelligible;  it  may,  nevertheless,  be 
inferred  from  them  that  in  Egypt  also  "it  repented 
the  Lord  that  he  had  made  man  on  earth,  and  it 
grieved  him  at  his  heart,  .  .  .  and  he  said:  I 
will  destroy  him."  What  part  did  the  woman 
play,  through  cunning  or  seduction,  in  the  initial 
revolt  of  man?  No  answer  is  found  in  Egyptian 
texts;  but  a  papyrus  commented  upon  by  M. 
Lefebure,  presents  an  episode  of  a  strife  between 
the  Creator  on  the  one  hand  and  the  woman  and 
serpent  on  the  other.  "  Isis  was  a  woman  clever 
in  speech;  her  heart  was  weary  of  the  society  of 
men,  she  preferred  the  society  of  gods,  she  valued 
highly  the  w^orld  of  spirits.  Could  she  not  be 
like  unto  Ra,  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  possess  the 
earth  and  be  a  goddess,  through  the  Name  of 
the  august  god?"  "Now,  Ra  used  to  come  every 
day,  with  his  train  of  ferrymen,  to  take  his  seat 
upon  the  throne  of  the  double  horizon.  The  god 
had  become  old;  his  mouth  was  watering  and  his 
spittle  trickled  down  upon  the  earth.  Isis  kneaded 
this  in  her  hand ;  with  earth  and  what  was  upon  it 
she  moulded  a  sacred  serpent.  And  the  sacred 
serpent  bit  Ra :  the  god  opened  his  mouth  and  his 
cry  rose  to  heaven.  Forthwith,  his  divine  cycle 
exclaimed:    'What  is  the  matter?'  and  his  gods, 


250         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


forthwith,  exclaimed:  'What  is  this?*  .  .  .  He 
could  not  answer;  his  jaws  cracked,  he  was  trem- 
bling in  all  his  limbs,  the  poison  was  spreading 
through  his  body."  Magicians  were  sent  for  in 
haste ;  Isis  came  with  her  charms ;  she  said :  ''What, 
divine  father!  a  serpent  has  worked  evil  in 
thee?  .  .  .  One  of  thy  creatures  hath  risen  against 
thee?"  If  he  wanted  to  be  cured,  she  stipulated 
that  he  reveal  his  Name  to  her,  that  is  to  say,  the 
secret  of  his  omnipotence.  The  god,  conquered 
by  feminine  cunning,  gave  up  his  Name.  ^'Isis," 
M.  Lefebure  says,  "is  a  kind  of  Eve,  trying  to 
obtain  divinity  by  snatching  away  supreme 
knowledge."^  This  revolt  was  one  of  the  things 
that  brought  about  the  punishment  of  men;  the 
text  analysed  above  contains  also  Ra's  reprimand 
of  Seb  (the  earth)  "because  of  the  serpents  who 
are  in  him,"  and  which  made  the  god  fear  for  his 
existence. 

It  seems  to  me  that  such  is  the  explanation  given 
by  the  Egyptians  of  the  sad  destiny  of  man. 
After  revolt  and  punishment,  mankind  bears  the 
weight  of  an  original  sin,  of  which  life  is  the 
expiation.  This  point  brings  us  back  to  the  ideas 
expounded  in  The  Book  of  the  Dead,  Most  of  the 
important  chapters,  especially  those  aiming  at  a 

^  Lefebure,  Un  chapitre  de  la  chronique  solaire  (1883). 


'^The  Book  of  the  Dead  "  251 

synthesis  of  human  life,  lay  stress  upon  a  sin  that 
has  left  its  stain  on  man.  How  grandiloquent  is 
the  profession  of  faith  in  Chapter  XVII,  where  the 
deceased  affirms  his  divine  nature!  But  it  thrills 
our  hearts  to  see  how,  soon  afterwards,  the  tone 
changes,  because  man  has  fallen  from  the  heights 
to  which  he  was  raised,  down  to  the  level  of 
human  misery: 

Chapter  XVII. — I  am  of  the  earth,  I  come  from  my 
city.  I  have  put  away  my  uncleanness,  I  have  made 
an  end  of  my  guilt. 

What  is  that  ? 

(Comment) :    It  is  the  cutting  off  of  the  shame  of 
the  Osiris  N.  .  .  .All  my  stains  are  driven  out. 
What  is  that  ? 

(Comment) :  I  have  been  purified  on  the  day  of  my 
birth,  in  the  great  lake  of  Natron,  where  abide  Ra  and 
Justice.  .  .  .  All  the  stains  that  are  mine  .  .  . 

What  is  that? 

(Comment) :  It  is  all  that  the  Osiris  N  has  com- 
mitted against  the  gods  since  he  came  forth  from  his 
mother's  womb. 

Chapter  LXIV. — I  come  unto  the  god.  There  is  no 
longer  in  me  any  uncleanness  from  my  mother. 

Does  this  uncleanness,  inherited  from  the 
mother,  this  stain,  consequent  upon  birth,  mean 
anything  else  than  an  original  sin?  Do  not  also 
the  above  quoted  verses  suggest  two  remedies? 
For  my  part  (agreeing  on  that  point  with  M.  de 


252  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Rouge),  I  see  in  those  texts  a  direct  allusion  to 
circumcision  and  baptism.  In  fact,  there  is  a 
Memphite  tomb  dating  from  the  Vth  dynasty 
which  shows  us  a  picture  of  the  surgical  operation ; 
only,  we  don't  know  if  such  an  operation  was  the 
common  custom.  As  for  baptism.,  evidence  of  it 
is  given  in  Deir-el-Bahri  and  Luxor  where  are 
pictures  representing  the  purifications  performed 
in  the  birth  chamber,  when  a  royal  child  comes 
into  the  world. 

Yet,  such  purifying  rites  were  not  considered 
sufficient  to  liberate  man  from  the  consequences 
of  sin.  In  chapters  XVII  and  CXXV  of  The  Bookj 
it  is  stated  that  a  judgment  before  Osiris  is  the 
inevitable  consequence  of  earthly  existence.  Life 
must,  therefore,  be  directed  along  the  way  of 
Right  and  Truth,  according  to  the  example  of  the 
gods,  and  paradise  must  be  the  reward  of  merit. 
This  is  expressed  in  the  following  verse  of  Chapter 
XVII: 

I  walk  along  the  way  I  know,  my  face  (turned) 
towards  the  Lake  of  Double  Justice. 
What  is  that  ? 

(Comment):  It  is  the  way  followed  by  Toum, 
when  he  passes  over  to  the  Elysian  Fields.  The 
Lake  of  Double  Justice  is  at  Abydos  (near  Osiris). 

We  have  explained  elsewhere  how  the  idea  of  the 


**The  Book  of  the  Dead" 


253 


Last  Judgment  was  worked  out  during  the  Mem- 
phite  Kingdom.  Since  the  Theban  dynasties, 
about  1500  B.C.,  the  scene  of  the  sitting  tribunal 
has  come  to  the  foreground,  and  forms  an  essential 
part  of  The  Book  of  the  Dead.  Whereas  the  texts 
in  the  pyramids  give  only  a  brief  definition  of  it, 
The  Book  devotes  its  longest  chapter  to  the  subject. 
The  ''Negative  Confession,'*  quoted  above,  has 
enabled  us  to  appreciate  the  standard  of  Egyptian 
ethics;  let  us  now  follow  the  different  stages  of 
development  that  the  conception  of  morality 
underwent. 

Many  sins  are  concerned  with  attacks  upon  the 
gods  or  their  property:  failure  or  neglect  to  per- 
form rituals,  theft  of  the  offerings,  slaughter  of  the 
sacred  animals,  etc.  Such  acts  were  presumably 
the  first  denounced  as  crimes  by  the  priests. 
At  a  later  period  we  see  the  justice  of  Osiris 
extended  to  cover  the  relations  of  men  to  one 
another.  Then  appear  sins  committed  against 
one's  neighbour:  "to  drive  back  his  water,  to 
cut  off  running  water,  to  extinguish  a  fire."  The 
sins  which  last  of  all  were  recognised  as  evil  were 
those  of  a  personal  nature,  those  offending  only 
moral  dignity.  Among  them  are  almost  all 
capital"  sins,  falsehood,  pride,  vice,  anger, 
cruelty,  selfishness,  as  many  faults  as  the  deceased 


254         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


has  to  defend  himself  against  before  the  tribunal 
of  Osiris.  Thus,  the  gods  are  no  longer  satisfied 
with  avenging  the  wrongs  done  to  them;  they 
become  the  avengers  of  any  wrong  done  to  man- 
kind or  to  the  moral  ideal. 

Along  with  this  change  of  attitude,  a  trans- 
formation took  place  in  the  tribunal  itself.  The 
oldest  versions  of  Judgment  represent  each  sin 
typified  by  a  special  god.  The  deceased  has  to 
ingratiate  himself  with  each  god  by  his  confession ; 
but  to  win  him  over  he  also  uses  entreaties  or 
threats;  should  religion  fail,  magic  can  help  him 
out.  Now,  if  the  deceased  knows  the  name  of 
each  god  in  the  jury — and  it  is  his  boast  that  he 
does — ^how  can  the  god  resist  a  call  upon  his 
own  name,  a  summons,  an  incantation  directed 
against  him  personally?  .  . 

In  later  versions,  the  confession  is  no  longer 
addressed  to  these  gods  only.  Other  divinities 
are  present  at  the  weighing  of  the  soul,  those  of 
Heliopolis;  before  these  the  deceased  has  to 
justify  himself,  not  with  individual  arguments, 
but  in  the  name  of  morals  in  general.  This  is 
the  outcome  of  more  advanced  ethics.  ^ 

*  To  know  the  name  of  a  god  is  to  get  mastery,  power,  over 
him. 

» Naville,  Todtenhuch,  Texte,  p.  164  and  plate  CXXXVI,  Ag. 


**The  Book  of  the  Dead'^ 


^55 


A  parallel  transformation  can  be  traced  in  the 
method  of  punishment.  In  olden  times,  the  forty- 
two  jurors  avenged  themselves  upon  the 
culprit  by  devouring  him.  Later  appeared  a 
hybrid  monster,  crocodile-lion-hippopotamus,  the 
"Eater  of  the  Dead,"  or  Amait,  entrusted  with 
the  general  chastisement.  In  a  still  later  period, 
mention  is  made  of  a  Lake  of  Fire,  where  the 
reprobates  are  annihilated.  Shall  we  conclude 
that  punishment  has  ceased  to  be  the  personal 
function  of  certain  gods,  who  avenged  certain 
crimes  concerning  them  separately?  In  that  case, 
punishment  is  not  dependent  in  some  way  upon 
the  individual  caprices  of  the  jurors,  it  is  meted 
out  by  a  kind  of  executioner  at  the  service  of  the 
whole  tribunal,'  or  a  destructive  element,  such 
as  fire.  Here  again,  ideal  Justice  gains  ground 
by  ceasing  to  be  individual. 

Finally,  we  see  in  the  editions  of  The  Book  of 
the  Dead,  dating  from  the  New  Kingdom,  that  man 
has  awakened  to  the  consciousness  of  his  guilt. 
When  he  comes  before  the  tribunal,  he  does  not 
try  to  deny  his  sins;  rather,  he  entreats  the  gods 
to  destroy  every  wrong  in  him. Chapter  XXX 

*  Cf.  Chap.  XVII  of  Todtenbuch,  where  the  executioner  is 
sometimes  Set,  sometimes  Horus  or  Thot. 

'  Todtenbuch,  Chap.  XVII,  ed.  Budge,  p.  38,  i,  85-86;  cf.  De 
Rouge,  ap.  Revue  Archeologique,  i860,  p.  218. 


256         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


shows  how  scrupulous  his  conscience  has  become. 
The  thing  that  strikes  the  deceased  with  terror 
on  the  Day  of  Judgment  is  not  the  assembly  of 
the  gods ;  the  direst  experience  for  him  is  to  see  his 
own  heart,  his  own  conscience  put  in  one  pan  of 
the  scales,  counterbalancing  Truth:  "My  heart, 
my  mother,  heart  of  my  mother,  heart  of  my 
birth,  heart,  the  dweller  in  my  body  on  earth,  do 
not  oppose  me  before  the  sovereign  powers,  do 
not  weigh  against  me  ...  do  not  say:  'That  is 
what  he  hath  done,  in  sooth,  he  hath  done  so  .  .  .* 
let  there  not  rise  against  me  what  is  wrong  in  me 
before  the  great  god  of  the  West." 

Thus,  *'the  most  implacable  accuser  of  man  is 
he  whose  assertions  cannot  be  contested,  he  him- 
self, his  own  heart,  which  is  fully  aware  that  often 
he  violated  the  moral  law  that  he  knew  perfectly." ' 
That  moral  law,  the  accomplishment  of  which 
will  redeem  man  from  original  sin,  can  be  summed 
up  in  one  precept:  "Practice  the  Right,  observe 
Truth."  The  mission  of  man  on  earth  is  to  pre- 
vent the  effects  of  the  original  sin ;  he  will  succeed 
if,  bearing  in  mind  his  celestial  origin,  he  performs 
his  deeds  in  harmony  with  divine  activity.  "The 
god,"  say  the  liturgical  texts,  "creates  Truth, 
lives  upon  Truth,  is  nothing  but  Truth."  Man 

^  Ed.  Naville,    La  religion  des  anciens  Egyptiens,  p.  183. 


**The  Book  of  the  Dead'' 


257 


must,  therefore,  observe  the  laws  of  nature  and  of 
conscience;  to  do  otherwise,  to  commit  deeds  of 
selfishness,  violence,  injustice  is  to  act  contrary  to 
the  pre-established  harmony  between  men  and 
things,  to  renounce  the  domain  of  reality  and  to 
falsify  the  work  of  the  Creator.  The  wicked  man 
forgets  that  he  is  but  a  particle  of  the  divine  in 
the  divine  whole;  he  disturbs  the  order  of  the 
Universe,  he  *'is  not  in  the  Truth."  The  right- 
eous man  furthers  the  intent  of  the  Creator;  by 
practising  charity,  fraternity,  justice,  he  helps 
maintain  the  general  order  and  contributes  to  the 
universal  harmony;  after  death,  his  lot  shall  be 
to  enjoy  Truth  without  obstacle:  "Those  who 
have  practised  justice  when  on  earth,  and  who 
have  fought  for  their  gods,  are  called  to  the  abode 
of  the  Joy  of  the  World,  the  land  where  one  lives 
by  justice.  Their  just  actions  are  taken  into 
account  in  the  presence  of  the  great  god,  the 
Destroyer  of  Iniquity,  and  Osiris  saith  unto  them : 
'  To  ye,  Justice,  be  united,  O  ye  Just,  to  what  ye 
have  done,  in  the  condition  of  those  who  are  in 
my  train,  in  the  palace  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Live 
upon  the  same  nutriment  they  partake  of;  drink 
of  your  Lake :  it  is  filled  to  the  brim  with  justice.'  "  ^ 
The  Day  of  Judgment  was,  therefore,  the  great 

^  Lefebure,  Sphinx,  viii,  39.    C/.  Plato's  Gorgias, 
17 


258  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


day  of  human  destiny:  Dies  ircB,  dies  illal 
"Then  shall  be  brought  the  book  which  contains 
everything  useful  for  the  judgment  of  the  world, 
and  nothing  shall  be  left  unpunished."^  The 
just  were,  therefore,  to  live  on,  but  the  guilty  were 
delivered  up  to  devouring  monsters,  or  to  eternal 
flames  and  were  annihilated.  Chabas  was  right 
to  point  out,  a  long  time  ago,  the  striking  analogy 
between  this  Egyptian  idea  of  hell  and  the  tra- 
dition recorded  in  the  Gospel. 

"The  Egyptian  hell,"  he  says,  "had  burning 
regions,  fiery  abysses,  flaming  waters,  the  only 
drink  offered  to  quench  the  thirst  of  the  perverse. 
The  demons,  tormentors  of  the  damned,  lived  in 
halls,  the  floors  of  which  were  water,  the  ceilings 
fire,  and  the  sides  live  snakes;  there  were  grid- 
irons and  caldrons  for  the  torture  of  the  sinners." 
Yet,  fully  to  appreciate  the  standard  of  Egyptian 
ethics,  a  parallel  may  best  be  drawn  between  the 
requirements  made  of  the  just,  in  formulae, 
already  used  at  the  time  of  the  pyramids,  and  the 
following  passage  from  the  Gospel  of  Saint  Mat- 
thew: 

When  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  .  .  . 
He  shall  separate  them  one  from  the  other,  as  a  shep- 
herd divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats.  .  .  .  Then  shall 

*  Dies  im. 


The  Book  of  the  Dead  259 


the  King  say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand:  Come, 
ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  For  I  was 
an  hungered,  and  ye  gave  me  meat ;  I  was  thirsty,  and 
ye  gave  me  drink ;  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me 
in;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me  .  .  .  Then  shall  he  say 
also  unto  them  on  the  left  hand,  Depart  from  me, 
ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire.  .  .  . 

Compare  with  it  this  text  from  a  papyrus: 
"Amon-Ra,  the  Redresser  of  Wrongs,  does  not 
receive  the  presents  of  the  violent  men;  he 
judges  the  guilty;  the  guilty  are  for  the  caldron, 
the  righteous  for  his  right  hand. ' '  Or  the  following 
passage  from  Chapter  CXXV:  "The  righteous 
man  lives  upon  truth,  he  feeds  upon  truth.  He 
has  spread  joy  everywhere ;  what  he  hath  done,  men 
speak  of,  and  the  gods  rejoice  over.  He  hath 
conciliated  the  god  by  his  love,  he  hath  given 
bread  to  the  hungry,  water  to  the  thirsty,  clothes 
to  the  naked.  .  . 

However  lofty  this  moral  ideal,  it  was  marred 
by  a  serious  blemish.  We  have  pointed  out  that 
in  the  time  of  the  pyramids  magic  prevailed  over 
religion  and  that  the  just  man  fared  no  better 
than  the  wicked,  armed  with  effectual  formulae. 
The  Book  of  the  Dead  itself,  even  in  the  latest 

^  Chabas,  "L'Enfer  egyptien,''  ap.  Melanges  egyptologiques,  Hi,  2. 
p.  168. 


26o  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Egyptian  versions,  emphasises  in  each  chapter 
the  supreme  power  of  rites  and  words.  What 
avails  the  moral  elevation  of  Chapter  CXXV  if  its 
contents  may  be  made  to  act  mechanically,  in  the 
way  of  an  exorcism,  whether  the  deceased  has 
lived  justly  or  not?  True  it  is  that  The  Book  was 
considered  by  the  majority  of  believers  as  a  mere 
collection  of  magic  formulae;  yet,  the  conscious- 
ness of  wrong- doing  and  the  concern  about  Judg- 
ment are  put  forth  too  often  and  too  forcibly  for 
us  to  imagine  that  cultivated  minds  relied  solely 
on  the  assistance  of  sorcery.  On  the  contrary, 
each  sentence  in  The  Book  is  ringing,  as  it  were, 
with  the  echo  of  the  Dies  irce:  "What  shall  I, 
unfortunate  one,  then  answer?  What  shall  I 
beseech  to  intercede  for  me,  when  even  the 
righteous  shall  doubt  their  safety?"  One  thing 
is  certain :  with  the  lapse  of  years  the  Egyptians 
had  become  more  and  more  scrupulous  and 
anxious;  but  in  what  religion  has  the  awakening 
of  conscience  ever  done  away  with  the  belief  in 
indulgences?  Cannot  the  doctrine  of  salvation 
by  grace  be  reconciled  with  faith  in  salvation 
through  well-doing? 

A  recent  discovery  has  confirmed  the  impression 
that  the  conscience  of  the  Egyptians  tended  to  be- 
come nicer  and  their  moral  ideal  purer.    On  the 


**The  Book  of  the  Dead" 


261 


recto  of  a  papyrus,  dating  from  the  first  years 
of  our  era,  a  didactic  story  has  come  down  to  us, 
in  which  the  idea  of  Judgment  shows  a  significant 
development.  Senosiris,  a  child-prodigy,  born  a 
magician,  leads  his  father,  Satmi,  into  the  under- 
world, and  shows  him  the  seven  great  halls  of 
Osiris's  dwellings.  Before  entering,  they  meet 
the  funeral  procession  of  a  rich  man,  about  to  be 
buried  in  the  most  sumptuous  manner,  and  also 
the  corpse  of  a  poor  wretch,  rolled  in  a  sordid  mat 
and  accompanied  by  no  one.  In  the  sixth  Hall  of 
Hades,  our  heroes  now  admire  Osiris,  Thot,  Anubis, 
the  other  judges,  and  the  scales  in  which  sins  and 
virtues  are  weighed:  '*He,  whose  misdeeds  out- 
weigh his  good  deeds,  is  given  up  to  Amait,  the 
bitch  of  the  ruler  of  the  West ;  they  (the  gods)  de- 
stroy his  soul  and  body,  and  do  not  let  him  breathe 
again;  as  for  him  whose  merits  are  found  more 
numerous  than  his  sins,  they  take  him  among  the 
gods,  and  his  soul  goes  to  heaven;  he  whose 
virtues  counterbalance  his  sins  is  placed  among 
the  shades,  who  serve  Sokar-Osiris  (inside  the 
earth).  And  behold!  Satmi  noticed  a  personage 
of  distinction,  clothed  in  fine  linen  and  standing 
near  the  place  where  Osiris  was,  in  foremost  rank. 
'My  father  Satmi,'  said  Senosiris,  'dost  thou  not 
see  this  high  personage?    The  poor  man,  whom 


262  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


thou  sawest  brought  out  from  Memphis,  without 
anyone  following  him,  and  who  was  rolled  in  a 
mat,  it  is  he!  He  was  taken  to  Hades,  his  mis- 
deeds were  weighed  against  his  merits  and  found 
light  in  comparison.  His  happiness  on  earth  was 
not  commensurate  to  the  length  of  his  life;  hence 
it  was  ordered  by  Osiris  that  the  funeral  equip- 
ment of  the  rich  man,  whom  thou  sawest  coming 
from  Memphis  in  great  pomp,  should  be  trans- 
ferred to  this  poor  man,  and  that  he  should  be  put 
near  Osiris.  The  sins  of  the  rich  man  were  found 
to  outweigh  his  good  deeds;  it  was  ordered  he 
should  be  rewarded  in  Hades  and  thou  hast  seen 
him,  at  the  entrance  of  Hades,  the  hinge  of  the 
door  thrust  into  his  right  eye,  turning  on  that 
eye  both  for  opening  and  shutting  the  door,  while 
his  mouth  utters  hideous  cries.  ...  He  who  has 
done  good  on  earth  is  repaid  with  good  here;  but 
he  who  does  wrong  is  repaid  with  wrong.  These 
things  thou  seest  in  the  Hades  of  Memphis  have 
been  established  for  ever  and  shall  never  change, 
and  they  come  to  pass  in  the  forty-two  nomes 
where  reside  the  gods  of  Osiris's  council.' 

How  much  improved  in  its  final  stage  is  the 
conception  of  the  reward  of  virtue  and  vice! 

I  Maspero,  Les  Contes  populaires  de  VEgypte  ancienne,  3d  ed., 
p.  134-8. 


^^The  Book  of  the  Dead" 


263 


There  has  been  devised  a  purgatory,  the  earthly 
underworld,  called  Sokar-Osiris,  as  an  intermediate 
place  for  the  men  whose  merits  only  balance  their 
faults.  As  for  the  just,  not  only  are  they  admitted 
to  eternal  life,  but  Osiris  rewards  them  in  propor- 
tion to  their  merit,  so  that  the  future  life  makes 
reparation  for  the  discrepancies  and  iniquities  of 
earthly  life.  In  the  Gospel,  according  to  St. 
Luke,  a  similar  parable  relates  the  fate  of  the 
rich  man  burning  in  hell,  while  Lazarus  reposes 
after  death  in  Abraham's  bosom.  ''Son,  remem- 
ber," says  Abraham  to  the  rich  man,  ''that  thou 
in  thy  lifetime  didst  receive  thy  good  things,  and 
likewise  Lazarus  evil  things;  but  now  he  is  com- 
forted and  thou  art  tormented.  ..." 

The  true  recompense  for  the  just  consisted,  then, 
in  being  liberated  from  the  human  condition. 
Having  escaped  the  contingencies  and  the  errors 
of  earthly  life,  they  ended  their  destiny  by  being 
absorbed  in  the  Divine  that  knows  and  realises 
nothing  but  Right  and  Truth.  It  seems  to  me  that 
such  is  the  deep  meaning  of  that  enigmatic  expres- 
sion "to  come  forth  by  day,"  "to  become  mani- 
fest in  the  day,"  per  m  harou,  which  is  the  title  of 
The  Book  of  the  Dead,  and  sums  it  up.  The  soul 
of  the  just  might  now  dwell  in  the  tomb,  or  the 


264  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


different  paradises  opened  to  it,  or  leave  them  at 
will.  It  might  return  to  the  earth,  mingle  again 
with  the  living,  sail  across  the  heaven  in  the  barge 
of  the  gods,  visit  the  stars,  under  the  outward 
appearance  of  a  man,  god,  animal,  plant  or  any 
object  whatever.  It  tested  life  in  all  its  aspects, 
because  life  was  identical  with  the  vast  Universe. 
The  just  man  returned  to  the  bosom  of  the  Cre- 
ator, from  whom  everything  emanates,  to  whom 
returns  every  being  who  through  his  own  fault 
does  not  deviate  from  his  prescribed  destiny: 
**I  am  Yesterday  and  To-morrow,  I  am  the  simi 
of  beings  and  of  things.'* 

The  obvious  objection  to  this  explanation  is 
that  it  requires  a  strong  intellectual  culture  to 
accept  without  apprehension  the  conclusion  of 
pantheism:  the  absorption  in  the  Divine.  Many 
an  Egyptian  was  rather  struck  with  fear  at  the 
thought  of  finally  vanishing  into  the  Divine,  and 
it  is  a  melancholy  kind  of  resignation  that  per- 
vades the  official  songs,  chanted  to  the  harp- 
accompaniment  at  the  funerals  of  the  kings : 

This  greatness  upon  earth,  what  is  it?  Why  the 
annihilation  in  the  tomb?  (To  die)  is  to  be  formed 
in  the  image  of  Eternity,  the  land  of  Right,  where 
there  is  no  strife  and  where  violence  is  abhorred, 
where  nobody  wrongs  his  neighbour,  where  nobody, 


The  Book  of  the  Dead  "  265 


of  all  the  generations  therein,  ever  revolts.  To  all, 
when  they  are  on  this  earth,  from  the  moment  they 
come  into  life,  it  is  said:  Go  in  prosperity,  health 
and  safety,  so  as  to  arrive  at  the  tomb,  always  think- 
ing in  thy  heart  of  the  day  when  thou  must  lie  on  a 
funeral  bed.  Such  is  thy  lot :  to  be  reunited  to  the 
rulers  of  Eternity.  Thou  shalt  never  pass ;  thou  art 
accomplished  and  perfect  in  the  great  divine  forms, 
thou  endurest  the  periods  of  eternity  and  thy  annals 
are  continually  renewed,  because  thou  hast  been  made 
perfect  and  raised  unto  thy  true  nature."^ 

One  of  the  consequences  of  this  melancholy  is 
the  keen  feeling  that  the  joys  of  this  perishable 
world  are  not  renewed  elsewhere;  we  must> 
therefore,  enjoy  human  life,  take  everything  good 
it  offers  before  death: 

Make  thy  day  happy!  let  there  be  always  per- 
fumes and  essences  for  thy  nostrils,  garlands  and 
lotus-flowers  for  the  shoulders  and  the  breast  of  thy 
beloved  sister-spouse !  Let  there  be  songs  and  music 
before  thee,  and,  neglecting  all  evil,  think  only  of 
pleasures,  until  the  day  when  thou  must  land  on  the 
shore  of  the  goddess  who  loves  silence.  .  .  .  Always 
bear  in  mind  that  day  when  thou  shalt  be  led  to  the 
country  where  men  are  mingled:  whither  no  one 
ever  took  his  wealth  with  him  and  whence  no  one 
ever  returned.^ 

Appeal  was  made  to  philosophy  in  order  to 

^  Translated  by  G.  Maspero,  Histoire,  ii,  p.  523. 
^Ihid.,  ii,  p.  524. 


266         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


soothe  the  rebellion  of  the  flesh.  A  certain 
papyrus,  four  thousand  years  old,  has  retained 
for  us  a  dialogue  between  an  Egyptian  and  his 
soul,^  in  which  all  the  motives  for  loving  death 
are  set  forth,  in  regular  sequence,  not  without 
poetical  beauty.  Life  is  bad;  every  man  knows  it : 
'*To  whom  shall  I  speak  to-day?  Our  neighbour 
is  mischievous  and  the  friends  of  to-day  love  no 
one.  Hearts  are  violent  and  every  one  robs  his 
neighbour;  the  weak  perish  and  the  strong 
triumph;  there  are  no  just,  and  the  earth  belongs 
to  sinners."  Let  us  quote,  by  way  of  antithesis, 
this  praise  of  death:  "Death  seems  to  me  now 
the  cure  for  illness,  the  escape  into  the  open,  after 
fever!  .  .  .  Death  seems  to  me  now  like  the 
perftmie  of  the  lotus  flower,  like  repose  on  the 
shore  of  a  land  of  enchantment,  like  the  return 
home  of  a  sailor!  Death  seems  to  me  now  like 
the  desire  felt  by  a  man,  after  many  years  of 
captivity,  to  see  his  home  again." 

Death  is  the  means  of  returning  into  the  divine 
fatherland,  whence  man  was  exiled  during  his 
sojourn  on  earth.  Such  is  the  conclusion  of 
The  Book  of  the  Dead.  In  spite  of  its  many 
obscurities.  The  Book  will  be  intelligible  to  us  if 

^  Translated  by  Erman,  Gesprdch  eines  Lebensmuden  mit  seiner 
Seek,  1896,  and  Maspero,  Causeries  d'Egypte,  p.  125. 


The  Book  of  the  Dead  267 


we  try  to  trace  in  it  the  development  of  the  theme 
cherished  by  moraHsts  and  theologians  of  all 
times:  Everything  is  vain  in  man,  if  it  is  con- 
sidered in  respect  to  mortal  life,  but  everything  is 
precious,  is  important,  if  we  view  the  final  aim  of 
that  life  and  the  account  we  must  give  of  it."^ 

The  same  ideas  still  govern  mankind.  Poetical 
feeling  draws  upon  the  same  sources,  when  it 
promises  the  wretched  human  creature  deliver- 
ance into  the  great  Whole.  Is  it  Isis,  or  is  it 
Isolde  who,  before  expiring,  sings  over  a  corpse: 

joy!  to  be  lost,  absorbed,  unconscious,  in 
the  infinite  breath  of  the  universal  soul 

^  Bossuet,  Oraison  funebre  d'Henrielte  d' Angleterre. 
''Wagner:  Tristan  und  Isolde: 

"In  des  Welt-athems  wehen  dem  All 
Ertrinken, 
Versinken, 
Unbewusst, 
Hochste  Lust." 


CHAPTER  VI 

Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt 

In  Ancient  Egypt,  as  everywhere  in  the  world, 
man  has  been  discontented  with  his  destiny  and 
has  tried  to  improve  it.  Not  only  did  he  exert, 
for  this  purpose,  the  natural  powers  of  his  body 
and  mind,  but  he  also  had  recourse  to  the  super- 
natural powers  that  religion  and  magic  seemed  to 
offer  him.  The  difference  between  the  two  is  well 
known.  Like  religion,  magic  sets  before  itself 
the  task  of  modifying  the  usual  and  regular  order 
of  things  by  miracles;  but  whereas  the  priest 
repeats  prayers  and  makes  offerings,  in  order  to 
conciliate  superior  beings  called  gods,  the  magician 
makes  use  of  force  and  craft.  The  priest  im- 
plores, the  magician  commands,  and  as  experience 
proves  that  force  is  more  effectual  than  prayer,  it 
follows  that  among  the  primitive  peoples  the 
wizard  has  more  authority  than  the  priest — 
unless  the  priest,  as  is  often  the  case  in  Egypt, 
is  himself  a  magician,  who  sometimes  deigns  to 
mingle  prayers  with  his  objurgations. 

268 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  269 


In  a  society  in  which  the  belief  in  magic  has 
taken  hold,  it  is  universally  held  that  every  being, 
every  thing  is  animated  with  a  Spirit,  similar  to 
that  which  dwells  in  the  human  body.  Nothing 
in  nature  is  inactive,  deprived  of  will  or  conscious- 
ness; every  being  or  thing  may  act  for  or  against 
man,  and  reciprocally  the  magician  may  put  in 
action  any  being  or  thing  that  he  wants  to  in- 
fluence. Thus,  in  Egypt,  gods  and  men  are  said  to 
possess  a  ''Genie"  which  animates  them  during 
their  existence  and,  provided  certain  precautions 
are  taken,  is  assured  a  life  after  death.  It  is  the 
Ka,  a  word  for  which  there  is  no  adequate  foreign 
equivalent;  the  translation  given  is  ''Double"  but 
the  meaning  of  the  Egyptian  term  would  perhaps  be 
better  expressed  by  the  word  "Genie." ^  Animals 
are  possessed  of  a  Ka,  and  even  things,  in  which 
there  is  no  apparent  life,  hide  an  invisible  spirit. 
Hence  can  be  explained  the  custom,  at  different 
periods  of  history,  of  obliterating  in  the  inscrip- 
tions the  hieroglyphic  signs  which  represented 
animals,  and  also  of  breaking  up,  in  order  to  kill 
them  and  allow  them  to  pass  into  the  other  world, 

^  The  idea  of  ' '  generation ' '  in  its  meaning  of  '  *  procreation ' '  and 
"species"  is  indisputably  associated  with  the  root  Ka,  which 
helps  to  form  words  like  "person, "  "bull,"  "male."  That  is  why 
the  word  Ka  recalls  to  mind  the  similar  Latin  word  genius. 
(Also  cf.  Lef^bure,  Sphinx,  i,  io8.) 


270         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


the  jars,  pieces  of  furniture,  and  fragments  of 
stones  inscribed  with  texts  and  deposited  in  the 
tombs:  these  very  signs  of  writing,  or  the  objects 
mentioned,  are  endowed  with  a  soul  and,  therefore, 
animated  with  a  Genie  that  may  be  useful  to  the 
deceased,  or  do  him  harm.  It  is  not  yet  clear  what 
the  Egyptians  called  that  "spirit"  in  animals  and 
things;  but  there  is  no  doubt  that,  for  them,  the 
whole  Universe  was  peopled  with  active  and  con- 
scious forces,  among  which  man  was  sure  to  meet 
adversaries  or  allies. 

Over  things  and  beings  endowed  with  a  Genie, 
he  alone  has  power  who  knows,  either  by  tradition 
or  personal  observation,  the  general  rules  govern- 
ing the  sensuous  and  spiritual  world.  Such  a 
man  is  the  "Wise"  par  excellence,  rekh  khetoUy 
"he  who  knows  things."  He  knows  the  natural 
affinities,  the  "sympathies"  or  "antipathies" 
which  in  the  Universe  unite  or  divide  matter,  as 
well  as  living  beings.  He  may  bring  into  a  de- 
termined state  such  being  or  thing  by  using 
the  means  of  attraction  or  repulsion  fatally 
exercised  on  it  by  another  being  or  thing;  in 
other  words,  by  using  the  method  of  sympathetic 

'  As  M.  Maspero  has  rightly  pointed  out,  the  Egyptians  often 
gave  a  surname  to  things  and  manufactured  objects,  thus  con- 
ferring on  them  a  real  personality  (cf.  Les  Contes  populaires  de 
VEgypte  ancienne,  3  ed.,  p.  95,  n.  3). 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  271 


magic,  ^  On  the  other  hand,  the  learned  or  '  *  wise ' ' 
man  has  observed  the  laws  of  *  *  imitation ' '  and  those 
of  cause  and  effect.  "  If  a  being  or  thing,  placed 
under  certain  conditions,  has  acted  or  reacted  in  a 
certain  way,  it  will  do  the  same  when  placed  under 
similar  conditions;  moreover,  this  result  may  be 
obtained  by  merely  ''imitating"  a  certain  act,  the 
effects  of  which  are  definitely  known.  Thus  the 
magician  boasts  of  bringing  about  a  repetition  of 
the  effects,  by  repeating  or  imitating  the  causes 
which  have  already  acted  once:  in  other  words,  he 
uses  the  method  of  imitative  magic.  The  master  of 
such  secrets,  the  magician,  can  dispense  with  prayers 
and  command  at  will  the  reciprocal  influences,  the 
fatal  actions  and  reactions  of  things  and  beings.  ^ 
To  make  each  point  clearer,  we  shall  first  analyse 
the  processes  of  sympathetic  magic,  then  those  of 
imitative  magic;  first  the  methods  employed  to 
obtain  protection  against  dangers  of  all  kinds,  then 
those  used  to  gain  active  power  over  beings  and 
things. 

The  magician  protects  his  own  life  and  that  of 
others  from  fortuitous  dangers  through  talismans 
and  formula;  he  foresees  future  dangers  through 
his  knowledge  of  the  future. 

*  Cf.  Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough,  2d  ed.,  1900,  i,  pp.  f)ff, 
2  Ibid.  pp.  10^. 


272         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


In  the  cases  of  our  museums  are  exhibited  by 
the  thousands  little  objects  of  diverse  shapes 
and  materials,  called  Egyptian  amulets.  They 
are  f otmd  strewn  among  the  sand  in  the  chambers 
of  the  tombs,  or  buried  with  the  mummies;  they 
are  made  of  glazed  earth,  or  glass  paste,  or  more 
or  less  precious  stones;  generally  they  were  so 
cheap  that  it  was  possible  to  throw  a  quantity  of 
them  in  the  sarcophagus,  so  as  to  increase  their 
influence  by  their  number.  But,  in  theory,  the 
amulet  had  to  be  of  choice  material  and  of  a 
definite  shape  in  order  to  possess  its  full  power. 

In  Egypt,  as  in  other  countries,  the  shape  of 
the  amulets  was  dependent  upon  the  special  ideas 
held  by  the  primitive  peoples  about  human  life. 
Life  seemed  a  spirit,  a  breath,  a  being  having  its 
own  separate  existence,  that  might,  therefore, 
escape  from  the  body,  and  had  to  be  carefully 
kept  hound  to  that  body.  Hence,  amulets  take  the 
shape  of  knots  and  bands,  because  they  tie  life 
to  certain  parts  of  the  body  where  it  is  most  ex- 
posed and  can  be  detected  by  the  beating  of  the 
pulse:  the  neck,  the  wrist,  the  ankles.  In  Egypt, 
such  knots  are  bracelets,  periscelides,  necklaces, 
either  narrow  or  broad.  The  texts  say  that  the 
necklace  was  a  shield  for  the  breast  of  gods  and 
dead  alike;  it  came  to  be  itself  considered  as  a 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  ^73 


god  whose  arms  protected  the  part  of  the  body 
in  contact  with  them.'  Bracelets  and  necklaces 
often  consisted  of  separate  little  knots,  strung 
together  so  as  to  make  up  a  jewel  of  magic  pur- 
port; very  often,  also,  such  knots  are  placed 
separately  on  the  body  of  the  living  and  of  the 
dead :  they  hold  in  life  at  these  places,  and  prevent 
it  from  leaving  the  body.  Hence  the  etymological 
meaning  of  "protection,  guard"  preserved  by 
those  signs  in  the  Egyptian  language. 

Other  talismans  were  derived  from  hieroglyphic 
signs  to  which  a  symbolical  meaning  was  attached : 
^  dnkh,  life;  ^  ouza,  health;  |  ouser, 
strength;  f  dad,  stability;  J  hez,  vigour  and 
freshness  of  body  and  spirit.  When  first  de- 
vised, these  signs  acted  by  virtue  of  their  specific 
form:  was  perhaps  the  representation  of  a 
man  with  arms  and  legs  stretched  out  (the  lower 
part  of  the  sign  in  the  archaic  period  had  two 
l^gs) ;  I  a  sceptre,  the  insignia  of  strength ; 
I  the  image  of  four  pillars  seen  in  perspective, 
the  symbol  of  stability ;  |  a  column  in  the  form 
of  the  lotus  fiower,  a  hardy  plant.  In  course  of 
time,  more  importance  was  given  to  the  idea 
attached  to  such  or  such  a  sign  by  the  conven- 
tional writing:  thus     |    "beauty,  goodness"; 

'  A.  Moret,  Rituel  du  Culte  divin,  p.  243. 


^74         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


"stability";  [  "favour" ;  ^  "health"  etc., 
became  as  many  symbols  transformed  into  amu- 
lets capable  of  magic  power.  The  Egyptian 
hieroglyphics,  by  giving  a  conventional  meaning 
to  material  objects,  greatly  encouraged  the  sym- 
bolic attribution  of  a  certain  virtue  to  a  particular 
object.  In  most  cases,  the  magic  power  ascribed 
to  knots,  jewels,  amulets,  comes  under  the  defini- 
tion of  imitative  magic:  one  imitated  and  there- 
fore conferred  life  with  ^  ;  stability  with  J  ; 
enclosure  and  protection  with  ^:^^fif=^' 

The  substance  of  which  such  objects  were  made 
also  exercised  a  special  influence.  More  eflicacious 
than  any  others  were  the  amulets  made  of  gold, 
a  metal  symbolic  of  duration,  indestructibility; 
gold  being  the  king  of  metals,  a  solidified  ray  of 
sunshine  was  the  substance  of  which  were  made 
the  bodies  of  imperishable  beings:  kings,  gods, 
divine  dead  (because  the  dead,  made  divine, 
became  gods  themselves) .  That  is  why  theJJ,  |, 
bracelets,  necklaces,  weapons,  had  to  be  made 
of  gold  or  at  least  of  gilded  wood.'  Colours, 
as  well,  exercised  a  specific  influence:  the  green 
column^  ]  ensured  greenness,  freshness,  strength, 
provided  it  was  made  of  green  glazed  earth;  the 

^  A.  Moret,  Le  Hire  d'Horus  d'or  dans  le  protocole  pharaonique. 
»  Book  of  the  Dead,  Chap.  CL. 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  275 

knot  §  ,  the  pillar  | ,  called  forth  the  idea  of 
Isis's  blood,  provided  they  were  made  of  carne- 
lian;^  green,  red,  yellow,  and  white  swathing-bands 
conferred  on  the  dead  and  on  the  gods  the  quali- 
ties of  freshness,  brilliancy,  and  purity  with  which 
they  were  endowed.  There  were  a  series  of 
supernatural  actions  in  which  the  properties  and 
"spirit"  of  each  object  acted  through  a  kind  of 
material  infiltration:''  the  gold  communicated 
its  indestructibility,  the  green  its  hardiness,  the 
white  its  candour;  in  other  words,  an  object 
acted  sympathetically"  upon  him  who  was 
clothed  in  it. 

Talismans  possess  a  stronger  power  if  they  are 
accompanied  by  formulae.  Of  such  formulae, 
the  Egyptians  had  a  remarkable  supply:  hikaou 
means  "magic  formulae;"  saoUy  "exorcisms"; 
shenitou,  "bands,  charms";  {IfTTi  hesiou,  "in- 
cantations. ' '  The  use  of  such  formulae  is  probably 
posterior  to  that  of  the  material  talismans.  They 
were  invented  to  increase,  by  the  magic  effect  of 
voice  and  articulated  language,  the  power  of  the 
object  formerly  residing  only  in  its  shape  and 
substance;  a  more  refined  spiritual  element  com- 
bined now  with  the  purely  material  charm. 

^  Book  of  the  Dead,  chap.  CLV;  Maspero,  Papyrus  du  Louvrct 
p.  2  and  following. 

2  A.  Moret,  Rituel  du  Culte  divin,  p.  178. 


276         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


Magic  formulae  are  known  to  us  only  from  texts 
of  recent  discovery;  this  explains  why  the  first 
Egyptologists  considered  them  the  outcome  of  a 
deterioration  of  religion  in  the  decadence  of 
Egyptian  civilisation.  But  the  oldest  religious 
texts  that  we  know  of  up  to  this  time,  those  in  the 
pyramids  of  Sakkarah  (Vth-VIth  dynasty),  con- 
tain rhythmical  formulae  against  the  bites  of 
snakes,  and  often  allude  to  magic  rites.  It  is  a 
proof  that  magic  texts  "belong  to  the  most  re- 
mote antiquity  and  are  an  essential  part  of  the 
Egyptian  religion."^  Formulae  are,  of  course, 
weapons  of  greater  precision  than  simple  talis- 
mans; they  are  directed  against  a  definite  enemy 
and  enlarge  the  field  of  magic.  From  the  most 
remote  times,  there  were  incantations  especially 
concerned  with  the  gods,^  therefore  antedating 
the  periods  of  elaboration  of  the  first  Egyptian 
mythology.  Almost  always  the  magician  alluded 
in  them  to  mythological  acts  well  known  to  him, 
but  obscure  to  us;  he  called  upon  a  god  who 
formerly  overcame  the  dangers  against  which  the 
formula  was  supposed  to  be  a  protection;  he 
boasted  of  having  power  to  compel  the  god  to 

^  Maspero:  Les  inscriptions  des  Pyramides  de  Sakkarah,  p.  48. 

2  For  instance,  in  the  Pyramid  of  Ounas,  307,  "Ra  stings  the 
scorpion";  332,  "Tombe  (serpent),  flame  coming  from  the 
Nu";  326,  mention  of  Atoum  and  Sokaris. 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt 


277 


renew  his  victory  over  the  foe  once  subdued  by 
him  under  similar  circumstances.  He  who  recited 
the  formula  became  like  the  god  on  the  day  of 
his  triumph  and  was  bound  to  be  victorious  like 
the  god.  The  animal,  on  the  other  hand,  was 
supposed  to  have  a  personality  almost  divine,  and 
was  combated  as  such.  These  proceedings  de- 
pended upon  the  laws  of  imitation"  and  of 
** cause  and  effect"  mentioned  above. 

Here  are  a  few  examples  of  an  application 
of  these  beliefs.  Suppose  you  were  bitten  by  a 
serpent;  an  appropriate  formula  declared  to  your 
enemy  that  you  are  the  god  Horus  and  that  you 
defy  him:  ''Rise,  venom,  rise  and  fall  to  the  earth. 
Horus  speaketh  to  thee,  annihilates  thee,  spits 
upon  thee.  Thou  dost  not  rise  any  more,  but 
thou  fallest,  thou  art  weak  and  thou  art  not 
strong;  thou  art  blind  and  thou  dost  not  see; 
thy  head  droops  and  cannot  rise  any  more;  for  I 
am  Horus,  the  great  magician."^ 

In  dealing  with  a  scorpion,  you  had  to  recall 
the  case  of  the  divine  cat,  Bast,  who  was  stung 
by  a  scorpion  but  healed  by  Ra:  O  Ra,  come  to 
thy  daughter  whom  a  scorpion  has  bitten  by  the 
wayside.  Her  cry  riseth  toward  heaven;  the 
venom  runs  throughout  her  limbs  and  she  puts 

^  Stela  of  Metier nich,  3. 


278         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


her  mouth  on  them  (to  suck  it).'  Thereupon  Ra 
hath  said  to  her:  'Fear  not,  fear  not,  my  noble 
daughter!  Behold!  I  am  standing  behind  thee. 
I  drive  back  the  venom  running  in  all  the  limbs 
of  the  cat/  He  who  recited  the  formula  was 
certain  to  be  protected  by  the  cat,  Bast,  that 
he  called  forth. 

To  ward  off  the  crocodile,  in  crossing  a  ford, 
mention  had  to  be  made  of  Osiris,  who  was  saved 
by  the  intervention  of  the  gods:  thou,  who 
art  in  the  water,  behold!  it  is  Osiris  who  is  in  the 
water,  and  the  eye  of  Horus  and  the  great  scarab 
protect  him.  .  .  .  Get  ye  back,  beasts  of  the 
waters!  Do  not  show  your  face,  for  Osiris  is 
floating  toward  you.  .  .  .  Beasts  of  the  waters, 
your  mouth  is  closed  by  Ra,  your  throat  is  closed 
by  Sechmet,  your  teeth  are  broken  by  Thot, 
your  eyes  blinded  by  the  great  magician.  Those 
four  gods  protect  Osiris  and  all  those  who  are  in 
the  water. 

Against  dangerous  animals,  serpents,  crocodiles, 
scorpions,  lions,  oryxes,  etc.,  the  magician  knew 
how  to  combine  the  power  of  amulets  with  that 
of  formulas;  hence  the  use  of  talismans  inscribed 
with  texts  and  figures,  the  most  important  of 

^  Stela  oj  Metternich,  9. 

^  Ihid.,  38.    Cf.  Erman,  Die  cegyptische  Religion,  p.  150. 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  279 


which  are  the  stelae  and  magic  sticks.  The  stelse 
are  of  the  type  of  the  so-called  Metternich  stela; 
on  a  plaquette  of  granite  or  basalt,  generally  of 
small  size,  they  show  on  one  surface  a  figure  in 
relief  of  the  child  Horus,  naked,  with  a  lock  of 
hair  falling  upon  his  right  shoulder;  the  god 
tramples  upon  crocodiles  which  turn  away  their 
heads  to  get  out  of  his  sight;  with  his  hands 
outstretched  he  lays  hold  upon  the  tails  of  snakes, 
scorpions,  lions,  oryxes.  Above  Horus  often 
appears  the  head  of  Bes,  the  jolly  and  warlike 
god  who  brings  good  luck.  *'Such  stel^  aimed 
at  protection  not  only  from  the  bite  or  sting  of  the 
animals  represented,  but  from  the  fascination 
exercised  by  them  over  their  victims  before  biting 
or  stinging  them."^  On  the  other  side  of  the 
stela  are  engraved  divine  figures  of  good  omen; 
often  the  gods  are  represented  stretching  the  bow, 
thrusting  the  spear  at  the  malicious  animals, 
in  a  word,  fighting  for  the  magician  who  has 
called  upon  them  for  help.  The  legend  formulae 
quoted  above  are  inscribed  in  the  space  left 
for  the  text  to  be  fully  developed.  Stelae  of  this 
type  appear  especially  at  a  later  period  of  history ; 

*  Maspero,  Etudes  de  Mythologie,  ii,  418-419. 
Daressy,   "Textes  et  dessins  magiques"  (Catalogue  of  the 
Cairo  Museum). 


28o         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


in  earlier  times,  use  was  made  of  magic  sticks,  most 
often  of  ivory,  exhibiting  figures  of  real  or  fan- 
tastic animals  (the  stick  often  terminates  in  an 
animal's  head),  or  gods  with  heads  of  animals 
or  of  men ;  among  others  is  often  seen  the  god  Bes, 
holding  serpents  in  the  attitude  later  to  be  as- 
sumed by  Horus.  Such  objects  assured  to  their 
owner  the  magic  protection  of  the  figures  en- 
graved on  them,  and  this  protection  was  against 
animals  especially.^ 

In  case  of  illness,  the  magic  process  was  the 
same,  for  the  ill  person  was  possessed  of  an 
adversary  {Kheft),  whose  inauspicious  presence 
in  his  body  was  responsible  for  all  the  evil.  The 
magician,  like  the  priest  and  the  physician,  knew 
the  art  of  healing ;  he  obtained  his  knowledge  from 
mysterious  books  granted  by  the  gods  to  certain 
men  under  miraculous  circumstances.  So  the 
Treatise  how  to  destroy  abscesses  in  all  parts  of  the 
body  was  found  under  the  feet  of  the  god  Anubis 
and  brought  to  King  Ousaphais^  (1st  dynasty); 
the  medical  papyrus  kept  in  London  ''was  found 
a  certain  night  in  the  great  hall  of  the  temple  in 
Koptos  by  a  priest  of  this  temple.    There  was 

^  F.  Legge,  "The  Magic  Ivories  of  the  Middle  Empire" 
{Proceedings,  S.  B.  A.,  1905-6);  cf.  Capart,  Revue  de  VHistoire 
des  religions,  1906,  p.  327. 

2  Papyrus  Ebers,  103,  i,  1-2, 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  281 


darkness  over  all  the  earth,  but  the  moon  shone 
upon  the  book  and  lighted  it  with  its  rays.  It 
was  brought  to  King  Cheops  (IVth  dynasty).'* 
As  the  books  on  therapeutics  were  supposed  to  be 
of  divine  origin  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  reme- 
dies prescribed  in  them  were  of  a  rather  super- 
natural order.  The  method  employed  to  drive  off 
the  adversary  was  the  same  as  that  resorted  to  in 
fighting  against  dangerous  animals.  By  the  aid 
of  a  formula,  the  personality  of  some  god  who  by 
tradition  has  power  over  the  adversary j  the  cause 
of  the  illness,  is  substituted  for  that  of  the  suffering 
man.  Against  pain  in  the  stomach,  for  instance, 
the  magician  declared  earnestly:  ''This  stomach 
is  that  of  Horus  speaking  to  Isis.  Horus  saith: 
*  I  have  eaten  some  of  the  fish  Abt,  that  is  made  of 
gold.'  Isis  answereth:  '  If  it  be  so,  the  gods  shall 
help  thee.'  Rub  the  stomach  with  honey;  wash 
the  stomach  with  a  liquid  kept  in  a  vase  on  which 
are  represented  the  gods  of  the  South  and  of  the 
North,  Ra,  Horus,  Thot,  Toum,  Isis,  Nephthys, 
three-eyed  Ouza,  and  three  ursei. 

Here  is  a  case  of  confinement.  The  woman  in 
childbed  is  assimilated  with  Isis  and  claims  im- 
periously the  help  of  the  gods:  ''O  ye  gods,  come 
to  help;  here  is  Isis;  she  is  seated  like  a  pregnant 

^  Pleyte,  Study  on  a  Magic  Scroll  in  Leyde,  p.  142. 


282  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


woman ;  if  ye  remain  inactive,  O  gods,  there  shall 
be  no  more  heaven  and  no  more  earth;  .  .  .  dis- 
asters shall  come  from  the  North;  there  shall  rise 
cries  from  the  tombs,  the  sun  shall  shine  no  more 
at  noon,  the  water  of  the  Nile  shall  not  overflow. 
It  is  not  I  who  am  speaking,  it  is  Isis  about  to 
give  birth  to  Horus."' 

This  intervention  of  the  gods,  bound  by  magic 
formulae  and  compelled  to  serve  those  who  know 
them,  is  also  made  clear  by  a  famous  monument 
in  the  National  Library  in  Paris:  the  stela  of  the 
princess  of  Bakhtan.  In  the  legendary  country 
of  Bakhtan,  a  princess  called  Bintrashit,  the 
sister  of  one  of  Pharaoh's  wives,  was  suffering 
from  a  mysterious  disease.  Neither  the  physicians 
nor  the  magicians  of  the  country  could  relieve 
her.  The  prince  of  Bakhtan  asked  his  brother- 
in-law,  the  Pharaoh,  to  send  him  a  Wiseman,  that 
is  to  say,  an  Egyptian  magician.  Pharaoh  sent 
one  of  the  "scribes  of  the  double  house  of  life'* 
who  diagnosed  the  case  as  being  that  of  a  woman 
possessed:  "The  magician  found  Bintrashit  in 
this  condition  and  found  out  the  evil  spirit  which 
possessed  her,  an  enemy  dangerous  to  fight." 
Incapable  of  driving  away  the  terrible  adversary, 
the  magician  called  an  Egyptian  god  to  his  help. 

»  Pleyte,  Study  on  a  Magic  Scroll  in  Leyde,  p.  i8o. 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  283 


The  god  Khonsu  set  forth  for  Bakhtan,  after 
receiving  from  his  elder  brother,  Khonsw-of- 
good-advice,  a  "fluid  of  life"  and  a  magic  power 
sufficient  to  resist  all  struggles.  "When  the  god 
arrived  at  Bakhtan,  behold!  the  prince  came  with 
his  soldiers  and  captains  to  meet  Khonsu ;  he  lay 
flat  upon  his  belly,  saying:  'Thou  hast  come  to 
us  according  to  the  bidding  of  Pharaoh.'  .  .  . 
And  lo,  as  soon  as  the  god  came  before  Bintrashit 
and  made  magic  passes  over  her  head,  she  felt 
well  at  once,  and  the  evil  spirit  that  was  in  her 
said  to  Khonsu:  'Come  in  peace,  thou  great  god 
who  drivest  away  strangers;  Bakhtan  is  thy  city, 
its  people  are  thy  slaves,  and  I  myself  am  thy 
slave.  I  shall  go  to  the  place  whence  I  came, 
so  as  to  give  satisfaction  unto  thy  heart,  in  this 
case  that  brought  thee  here ;  only  let  it  be  ordered 
that  a  festival  be  celebrated  in  honour  of  me  and  of 
the  prince  of  Bakhtan.'  The  god  approved  of  it, 
and  after  great  offerings  had  been  made  to  Khonsu 
and  to  the  evil  spirit,  the  latter  departed  in  peace 
to  the  place  he  chose  to  go  to  according  to  the 
bidding  of  Khonsu. "  ^ 

In  this  tale,  we  see  a  god  using  his  magic  power 
against  an  evil  spirit,  in  the  service  of  the  Pharaoh. 

^  Cf.  Maspero,  Les  Contes  populaires  de  I'Egypte  ancienne,  3d 
edition,  p.  161  and  following. 


284  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


The  Pharaoh  was,  indeed,  the  head  of  the  magi- 
cians in  his  kingdom  and  we  shall  refer  later  to  this 
important  attribute  of  kingship  in  Egypt.  But 
ordinary  citizens  also  might  guard  themselves 
from  the  attacks  of  an  evil  spirit,  provided  they 
knew  an  efficacious  formula ;  for  instance,  the  fol- 
lowing one  preserved  for  us  in  a  papyrus  at  Leyde : 

If  you  are  attacked  by  a  dead  (man)  some  even- 
ing when  undressing,  place  under  your  head  [this 
formula]:  "  The  beauties  of  (so  and  so)  are  the  beau- 
ties of  Osiris ;  his  upper  lip  is  that  of  Isis ;  his  under 
lip  that  of  Nephthys,  his  teeth  are  like  swords,  his 
arms  are  like  those  of  the  gods,  his  fingers  are  like 
divine  serpents,  his  back  is  like  the  back  of  Seb.  .  .  . 
etc.  There  is  not  one  of  his  limbs  that  is  not  like  those 
of  a  god.  ..."  Words  to  be  said  on  an  amulet,  in  order 
to  cure  and  to  charm  the  limbs  of  a  person  and  his 
ills.  They  must  be  recited  when  a  dead  person,  male 
or  female,  attacks  a  man  while  undressing,  and  drags 
him  away  on  an  evening,  in  order  to  torment  him. 

We  again  come  in  contact  here  with  the  fraud 
which  consists  of  taking  on  the  personality  of 
some  god,  vanquisher  of  his  enemies,  so  as  to 
cheat  the  adversary,  to  put  him  in  such  a  position 
that,  if  imitative  magic  be  true,  he  cannot  have 
the  upper  hand. 

The  magician  was  proficient  not  only  in  fighting 
against  maladies  and  evils  but  also  in  foreseeing 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  285 


them  and  he  averted  destiny  and  fate  by  pro- 
phecies and  horoscopes.  In  this  respect,  the 
art  of  the  magician  rested  on  his  observations 
in  astronomy.    Diodorus  writes : 

There  is  perhaps  no  country  in  which  the  order 
and  movement  of  the  stars  are  observed  with  more 
accuracy  than  in  Egypt.  They  have  preserved  for 
an  incredible  number  of  years  registries  of  their  ob- 
servations. .  .  .  There  is  found  information  about  the 
relationship  of  each  planet  to  the  birth  of  animals 
and  about  the  stars  whose  influence  is  good  or  bad.  .  .  .  ^ 
In  the  tomb  of  Osymandyas,  in  Thebes,  there  was  on 
the  terrace  a  gold  circle  having  a  circumference  of 
365  cubits,  each  cubit  divided  into  365  parts.  Each 
division  corresponded  to  a  day  of  the  year,  and  by  its 
side  there  was  recorded  the  natural  rising  and  setting 
of  the  stars,  with  the  prognostications  based  thereon 
by  the  Egyptian  astrologers.^ 

The  method  for  prognostication  was  this: 
On  a  certain  day,  at  a  certain  hour,  the  stars 
occupy  a  definite  position.  At  some  previous 
time,  when  the  stars  were  in  a  similar  position, 
a  propitious  or  unpropitious  event  came  to  pass; 
the  same  event,  or  a  similar  one  will  probably 
happen  at  the  moment  when  the  stars  assume 
their  former  place.  ^  The  documents  that  have 
come  down  to  us  show  that  the  events  alluded 

^  Diodorus,  i,  71.  ^Ibid.,  i,  49. 

3  Papyrus  Sallier,  translated  by  Chabas,  Calendrier  des  jours 
fastes  et  nefastes. 


286  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


to  concerned  the  life  of  the  gods  and  referred 
principally  to  the  daily  struggle  of  Osiris  against 
Set  and  to  the  episodes  of  their  alternate  defeat 
and  victory.  On  the  seventeenth  of  the  month 
Athyr,  Set  killed  Osiris;  on  the  ninth  of  Khoiak, 
Thot  defeated  Set;  on  the  fifth  of  Tybi,  Sokhit 
burnt  the  impious;  the  first  date  was  therefore 
unpropitious,  the  other  two  propitious.  "What- 
soever thou  seest  on  this  day,  it  shall  be  favour- 
able."  Thus  every  man  had  to  live  again  the 
life  of  the  gods  in  his  own  manner,  and  could  not 
escape  their  influence.  The  power  of  the  magician 
consisted  in  making  these  well-known  facts  from 
mythology  bear  on  the  actions  of  human  life 
in  appropriate  circumstances,  and  also  in  imitating 
in  the  best  and  most  favourable  sense,  the  destiny 
of  the  gods.  ^ 

Besides,  each  year,  each  month,  each  day,  each 
hour  was  supposed  to  be  under  the  influence  of  a 
god  or  of  a  star ;  ^  the  magician  knew  how  to  render 
them  propitious,  or,  at  least,  could  warn  the 
people  concerned  of  the  lot  awaiting  them.  He 
knew  the  diverse  fates  allotted  to  each  man 
by  the  fairy  goddesses  on  his  birthday,  ^  because 


^  Maspero,  Les  Contes  populaires,  Introduction,  p.  xlix. 

2  Wiedemann,  Magie  und  Zauherei,  p.  6. 

3  Maspero,  Les  Contes  populaires,  Introduction,  p.  li. 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  287 


this  day  was  entered  on  his  books  under  a  rubric 
of  good  or  ill  omen,  with  the  proper  amount  of 
good  or  bad  luck  attached  to  them,  and  reckoned 
minutely.  "The  ninth  of  Paophi  means  felicity 
of  the  gods;  men  are  joyful,  for  the  enemy  of 
Ra  is  put  down.  Whoever  is  born  on  that  day, 
will  die  of  old  age.  '*  ''As  for  the  twenty-seventh 
of  Paophi,  whoever  is  born  on  that  day,  will  die, 
killed  by  the  crocodile."^  Popular  literature 
has  left  us  a  story  about  a  Predestined  Prince:^ 
he  strives  in  vain  to  ward  off  three  fates  which, 
from  his  birth,  condemn  him  to  perish  by  the 
serpent,  the  crocodile,  or  the  dog.  The  magician 
could  not  always  thwart  destiny;  but,  at  least, 
his  client,  for  warned  and  forearmed,  tried  to 
escape  his  fate  by  taking  useful  precautions: 
staying  at  home,  avoiding  all  danger,  reciting 
the  protective  formulae. 

Protective  rites  are  only  a  part  of  the  magic 
art;  its  power  and  prestige  are,  by  far,  increased 
if  the  magician  knows  the  rites  producing  action 
at  a  distance.  The  Egyptians  contrived  to  exer- 
cise magical  influence  over  men,  gods,  and  the 
dead  for  the  most  varied  purposes. 

Magic  action  at  a  distance,  or  absent  treat- 

^  Maspero,  Les  Contes  populaires,  Introduction,  p.  1. 
^Ibid.,  p.  1 68. 


288  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


ment,  as  it  were,  of  any  being  whatever,  was  pos- 
sible for  the  Egyptian  magician  only  through  the 
help  of  gods,  or  of  genii  that  he  had  at  first  to 
subdue  to  his  power.  The  scheme  of  the  process 
was  this:  The  magician  invoked  a  god  or  a 
spirit:  "Come,  venerable  spirit  ...  then,  he 
formulated  the  wish  that  had  to  be  fulfilled:  **Act 
for  me  on  such  a  person,  .  .  .  arouse  for  me  such 
a  one,  .  .  .  direct  his  heart  towards  such  a  one. 
.  .  He  declared  then:  "I  call  thee  up  by 
thy  real  name";  then  followed  a  litany  of  magic 
names,  composed  usually  of  incomprehensible 
syllables.  Finally,  after  a  declaration  intended 
to  frighten  the  god  or  genius  called  forth  (''for 
I  am  the  bull,  for  I  am  the  lion,  I  am  the  head 
of  the  venerable  lord  of  Abydos"),  the  magician 
gave  a  magical  recipe:  recite  the  formula  over 
an  image  of  Osiris,  of  Anubis;  mix  a  drink,  a 
concoction,  or  a  salve  with  herbs,  incense,  wheat, 
over  which  is  poured  blood  of  the  patient  him- 
self, or  in  which  are  put  small  pieces  of  a  corpse.  ^ 
Sometimes  mention  was  made  of  a  figure;^  the 

^  G.  Maspero,  Memoir e  sur  quelques  papyrus  du  Louvre,  p.  155. 
Cf.  the  tabellcB  devotionis  found  at  Hadrumete,  the  incantations 
in  which  date  from  the  Roman  period,  but  were  almost  entirely- 
borrowed  from  the  Egyptian  magic  rituals  (G.  Maspero,  Etudes 
de  Mythologie,  ii.  p.  296). 

^Papyrus  du  Louvre,  pp.  117,  118,  120. 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  289 


latter,  it  seems,  had  to  be  made  in  the  likeness 
of  the  subject  of  this  absent  treatment,  and  the 
formula  recited  over  this  figure  was  supposed  to 
send  to  its  original  dreams  of  love  or  of  terror, 
sleep  or  insomnia,  health  or  death.  Such  formulas 
imply  the  practice  of  envoutement,  since  they  allude 
to  figures  receiving  the  direct  shock  of  the  magic 
conjuration.  In  fact,  we  know  a  few  cases  of 
envoutement  affecting  gods  or  men.  The  papyrus 
of  Nesiamsou  contains  an  incantation  intended 
to  help  the  god  Ra  in  his  daily  struggle  against 
Apophis,  the  evil  spirit.  A  wax  statuette  was 
made  in  the  name  of  Apophis  and  in  his  crocodile 
form.  The  name  of  the  god  was  written  in  green 
ink  upon  this  figure,  which  was  then  wrapped  in 
a  papyrus  on  which  the  silhouette  of  Apophis 
was  also  sketched.  It  was  necessary  to  spit 
first  upon  the  figure,  then  to  hack  it  with  a  crude 
stone  knife  and  to  fling  it  to  the  ground ;  then  the 
priest  crushed  it  several  times  under  his  left  foot, 
and  burnt  it  over  a  pile  of  plants  having  magic 
properties.  The  rite  had  to  be  repeated  three 
times  a  day  (probably  as  a  ceremony  additional 
to  the  ordinary  cult) ,  and  also  when  there  came  a 
storm,  the  latter  being  an  omen  of  danger  for  the 
divinities.  ^ 

^  Budge,  Egyptian  Magic,  P-  77;  Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough, 


Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


In  Egyptian  history,  there  is  also  an  important 
case  of  envoMement  known  to  us,  which  occurred 
in  the  reign  of  Ramses  III.  An  official  in  the  royal 
palace  was  convicted  of  crime  for  the  following 
deeds :  '  he  procured  a  magic  script  copied  from 
the  secret  books  of  the  king,  and  so  succeeded  in 
fascinating  ( (P  ^  y  ^  sih)  the  people  in  the 
palace;  he  also  managed  to  ''make  wax  men  and 
writs  of  wishes  " : 

S  U  3i) 

that  is  to  say,  figures  over  which  he  recited  incan- 
tations, in  order  to  attain  his  desired  aim;  he 
was  thus  able  to  bewitch,  {hikaou:  |  jJ  2) ) 
the  servants  in  the  harem. 

Such  examples  of  envoMement  can  be  explained 
in  the  light  of  one  another,  so  that  it  becomes 
easy  to  realise  what  general  principles  underlie 
active  magic  with  the  Egyptians.  Here,  as  in 
other  countries,  the  magician  commanded  other 
beings  by  making  use  of:  1st,  their  names;  2d, 
figures  representing  them.  These  two  means  of 
active  magic  are  known  to  all  primitive  societies. 
"A  name,"  writes  M.  Hartland,  "is  considered 
inseparable  from  its  possessor,  and  the  savages 
take  great  care  to  hide  from  one  another  the 
knowledge  of  their  true  name,''  and  are  satisfied 

^  Papyrus  Lee,  ap.  Deveria  CEuvres,  ii,  p.  97. 

2  Cf.  Lefebure  Sphinx,  1,  p.  98:  In  a  legend  preserved  in  the 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  291 


with  being  addressed  and  singled  out  by  a  surname 
or  an  epithet  substituted  for  it.'  The  reason  is 
that  knowing  the  name  of  another  man  is  to  get 
mastery  over  him;  it  is  as  if  this  man  himself,  or 
an  essential  part  of  himself,  was  put  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  person  who  obtained  knowledge  of 
his  name."''  M.  Lefebure,  in  his  very  suggestive 
treatises  on  the  importance  of  the  name  among 
the  Egyptians,  has  demonstrated  that  this  general 
theory  can  be  applied  point  by  point  to  Egypt, 
This  explains  the  care  taken  by  the  magicians, 
while  reciting  magic  formulae,  to  pronounce 
properly  the  true  name  of  the  god  they  wished  to 
call  upon;  and  this  name  was  multiple,  or  of  curi- 
ous form,  but  its  harmonised  sound  possessed  the 
power  of  acting  on  the  being  invoked.  "In 
reality,  the  name  of  a  person,  or  of  a  thing  is  not 
an  algebraic  sign,  but  rather  an  effective  image; 
therefore,  it  becomes,  in  a  sense,  an  integral 
part  of  the  original;  it  becomes  this  original 

Turin  papyri  the  Sun,  Ra,  confesses:  "My  name  was  spoken 
by  my  father  and  my  mother,  then  was  hidden  in  my  heart  by 
him.  who  begat  me,  so  as  not  to  allow  the  enchanter  to  prevail, 
who  would  enchant  me." 

^Called  by  the  Egyptians  the  good  name."  (Lefebure, 
Sphinx,  i,  p.  97,  and  following.) 

2  This  is  what  happened  to  Ra,  in  the  legend  related  above, 
as  soon  as  Isis  managed  to  take  from  him,  i.e.,  from  his  body, 
his  proper  name. 


292         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


person  or  object  itself,  only  less  material  and 
more  manageable,  that  is  to  say,  adapted  to 
the  use  of  the  mind  in  short,  it  is  a  mental 
substitute  for  the  object."  To  pronounce  the 
name  of  a  being  is  tantamount  to  fashioning 
his  spiritual  image;  to  write  a  name  is  equivalent 
to  sketching  the  material  likeness:  this  is  true 
especially  in  the  case  of  Egypt  where,  in  hierogly- 
phic writing,  names  are  accompanied  by  a  deter- 
minative sketching  out,  as  accurately  as  possible, 
objects  and  beings.  Calling  forth  a  name  is  a 
practice  similar  to  ''the  rites  of  witchcraft,  in 
which  the  magician  fashions  the  figure  of  some 
man,  calls  it  by  his  name,  and  then  pierces  it 
with  sharp  points  of  thorns,  with  the  intention  of 
inflicting  suffering  and  finally  death  upon  the 
person  represented. ' '  ^  Let  us  conclude  that  magic 
action  at  a  distance,  or  absent  treatment,  depended 
in  Egypt,  as  elsewhere,  on  imitative  magic  and  was 
effected  through  the  name  and  the  figures  of  the 
treated  beings  or  things. 

Besides  the  amulets,  talismans,  formulae,  and 
horoscopes,  used  to  prevent  danger,  besides  magic 
envoMements  and  conjurations  used  for  absent 
treatment,  the  practice  of  magic  played  an  im- 

« Hartland,  ap.  Lef^bure,  loc.  ciL 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  293 


portant  part  even  in  Egyptian  religion,  and  in 
the  cult.  The  cult  of  the  gods  and  the  dead  was 
imbued  with  magic  to  such  a  degree  that  a  detailed 
study — extremely  difficult  in  itself,  and  which 
would  be  out  of  place  here — would  be  necessary 
to  separate  what  pertains  to  prayer  and  sacrifice 
to  the  god,  and  what  belongs  to  witchcraft  and 
magic  objurgations.  Truth  to  tell,  the  priest 
prostrated  himself  before  the  god,  implored  him, 
solicited  him;  but,  at  the  same  time,  the  god 
needed  the  priest,  because  the  priest  protected 
him  against  his  enemies,  saved  him  from  the 
Osirian  death,  shielded  him  from  evil  charms,  by 
processes  identical  with  genuine  magic.  Without 
the  priest,  the  god  had  but  a  latent  power;  just 
like  an  ill  man,  or  one  possessed,  he,  too,  had  to 
receive  the  fluid  of  life  from  the  hands  of  the  priest 
and  then  he  was  able  to  drive  back  his  enemies, 
the  typhonic  animals,  by  the  same  means  as  his 
human  creatures;  he  derived  benefit  from  the 
sacrifice,  and  the  offerings  only  through  the  magic 
virtue  of  the  voice  of  the  priest  officiating.  ^  The 
lists  of  offerings,  repeated  many  times  on  the 
walls  of  the  temple,  had  no  effective  value  and  did 

»  The  theory  of  creation  by  voice  and  sound  has  been  explained 
by  Maspero  {Etudes  de  Mythologie,  ii,  p.  372),  Cf.  A.  Moret, 
Rituel  du  culte  divin,  p.  154  and  following. 


294         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


not  come  forth  on  the  altar ^  except  in  response  to 
the  voice  of  the  priest;^  the  real  offerings,  burning 
on  the  altar,  passed  over  to  the  god  only  after 
their  names  were  pronounced,  and  their  presenta- 
tion performed  with  the  proper  ritualistic  formulae 
and  intonations.  The  priest — that  is  to  say, 
the  king  himself — possessed,  indeed,  the  privilege 
of  gods,  creating  beings  and  things  by  naming 
them;  he  was  endowed  with  the  "creative  voice" 
through  which  the  demiurgi  once  called  forth 
the  world:  he  was  md  khroou.^  The  god  himself, 
whose  power  at  the  beginning  of  the  rites  seemed 
to  be  annihilated  or  diminished,  became  again  a 
creator"  and  a  ''vanquisher,"  upon  contact 
with  the  priest,  and  at  the  sound  of  his  powerful 

^  Hence  the  name  of  offering  "that  which  comes  forth  at  the 
sound  of  the  voice,"  pir  khrdou  (Maspero,  La  Table  d'offrandes 
des  tombeaux  egyptiens,  p.  30;  A.  Moret,  Rituel  du  culte  divin,  p. 
156). 

Md  khroou,  "just  of  voice,"  according  to  Maspero;  rather 
"creator  through  the  voice, "  according  to  my  opinion;  these  two 
explanations  are  not  contradictory,  but  rather  complete  each 
other  (Rituel  du  culte  divin,  p.  163).  M.  Philippe  Virey  was  the 
first  who  proposed,  in  1889,  the  translation  of  md  khrdou  by 
"he  who  realises  the  word,  who  realises  through  speech,  whose 
voice  or  demand  brings  into  reality,  makes  true,  causes  the 
offerings,  existing  only  in  painting  on  the  walls  of  the  tomb,  to 
become  real,  to  exist  materially"  {Le  tombeau  de  Rekhmard, 
p.  loi,  n.  7;  p.  149,  n.  2.  Cf.  Rituel,  p.  152,  n.  2).  In  my 
opinion,  the  power  of  the  voice,  with  the  officiating  priest,  is  not 
limited  to  the  materialisation  of  the  offerings,  but  is  extended 
to  any  act  performed  by  the  demiurge. 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  295 


creative  voice.  In  his  turn,  he  put  his  now  re- 
newed magic  force,  creative  voice,  and  fluid  of 
Hfe  at  the  service  of  the  priest.  Thus  the  cult 
appears  to  us  as  an  exchange  of  magic  forces  and 
influences,  going  alternately  from  the  priest  over 
to  the  god  and  back  again  from  the  god  to  the 
priest.^  This  part  of  the  cult  has  remained 
closest  to  the  primitive  practices  of  old  in  which 
magic  and  witchcraft  held  a  place  more  important 
than  mythical  belief  and  prayer.  The  magician 
knew  so  well  that  the  help  of  his  rites  and  formulae 
could  not  be  dispensed  with  that  he  sometimes 
threatened  the  gods  by  declaring  that  he  would 
prevent  their  cult  from  being  performed.  ^ 

This  reciprocal  blending  of  cult  and  magic  ex- 
plains the  prominent  part  played  by  certain  gods, 
such  as  Thot,  Horus,  Bes,  in  the  magic  conjura- 
tions mentioned  above.  The  gods  themselves, 
as  we  have  seen,  were  magicians;  especially  Thot, 
the  scribe  of  the  gods,  the  "Wise"  in  heaven,  was 
worshipped  as  the  "lord  of  the  voice,  the  master 
of  words  and  books,  the  possessor  or  inventor  of 
the  magic  scripts  which  nothing  can  resist  in 
heaven,  on  earth,  or  in  Hades."  ^   The  scrolls 

^A.  Moret,  Rituel  du  culte  divin,  p.  221,  and  following;  Du 
caractere  religieux  de  la  royaute  pharaonique,  160. 
'  Lef^bure,  Sphinx,  x,  p.  91 ;  viii,  p.  27. 
3  Maspero,  Histoire,  i,  p.  145. 


296         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


chanted  by  the  magicians  were  the  ''books  of 
Thot,  that  the  latter  wrote  with  his  own  hand." 
No  wonder  then  that  the  rites  invented  by  the 
gods  were  used  in  their  cult  for  their  own  safety! 
What  is  true  of  the  cult  of  the  gods  is  equally 
true  of  the  cult  of  the  dead.  The  transmission 
of  the  "fluid  of  life"  to  the  mimimy,  the  protection 
from  typhonic  animals,  the  presentation  of  real  or 
fictitious  offerings  necessitated  the  use  of  magic 
for  the  deceased,  as  well  as  for  the  gods.  The  use 
of  funeral  statuettes  (oushatbtiou) ,  or  "answerers," 
which  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  deceased  a 
train  of  servants  or  substitutes,  commissioned  to 
perform  for  him  any  labour  useful  for  his  material 
existence  after  death,  is  as  yet  not  explainable  on 
any  ground  other  than  that  of  magic,  which  con- 
verted these  figures  into  living  beings  for  the 
service  of  the  deceased  in  the  other  world.'  But 
it  is  especially  in  the  methods  of  attaining  the 
diverse  Paradises  that  the  power  of  magic  is 
strongly  manifested.  The  deceased  appeared  for 
judgment  before  the  tribunal  of  Osiris,  and  was 
forced  to  answer  a  series  of  questions  at  the  gate- 
way of  the  infernal  regions.  Yet  if  he  knew 
the  formulae  of  salvation  and  the  names  of 
the  guardians  he  had  sway  over  the  infernal 

»  Maspero,  Histoire,  i,  p.  193. 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  297 

gods.^  Whether  he  was  pure  or  impure  mattered 
little;  provided  that  he  was  furnished  with  the  pro- 
tective talismans,  and  performed  the  effectual  rites, 
he  was  sure  to  be  considered  good:  **Pass  on,  thou 
art  pure,"  say  the  Osirian  judges.  Paradise  was 
to  be  obtained  by  the  expert  magician  rather  than 
by  the  man  in  possession  of  virtue  alone.  Magic 
supplanted  righteousness  and  deceived  gods  as 
well  as  men. 

We  touch  here  upon  one  of  the  most  important 
results  of  this  intermingling  of  magic  with  the 
cult  of  the  gods  and  the  dead:  magic  gave  an 
unstable  character  to  that  Egyptian  religion 
which  proclaimed  imder  other  circtmistances  so 
lofty  a  moral  ideal  of  right  and  truth.  It  put 
falsehood  and  sincerity  on  the  same  level;  it 
enabled  the  impure  or  wicked  man,  who  knew 
how  to  bind  the  gods  by  his  charms,  to  act  with 
impunity. 

Popular  literature  is,  therefore,  not  misleading 
when  it  lays  insistence  on  the  prominent  position 
which  magicians  held  in  Egyptian  society:  they 
had  the  power  of  life  or  death,  could  conjure  up 
the  past,  make  the  present  secure,  and  give  pro- 
tection for  the  future;  all  nature  obeyed  them,  and, 

«  Maspero,  Histoire,  i,  p.  184  and  following. 


298  Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


if  they  desired  and  commanded,  the  world  might 
be  overturned.  This  is  what  was  said  about  the 
formula  in  the  book  of  Thot:  "If  thou  recitest 
the  first  of  these  formulas,  thou  wilt  charm  heaven, 
earth,  night,  mountains,  water;  thou  wilt  under- 
stand what  the  birds  and  reptiles  say,  thou  wilt 
see  the  fishes  of  the  abyss,  for  a  divine  power  will 
bring  them  to  the  surface  of  the  water.  If  thou 
recitest  the  second  formula,  though  thou  be  in 
thy  grave,  thou  shalt  assume  anew  the  form  thou 
hadst  on  earth."' 

Thus,  supernatural  wonders  are  but  child's  play 
for  the  magician:  to  divide  the  water  of  a  river ;^ 
to  cut  off  the  head  of  a  man  and  put  it  in  place 
again,  without  endangering  him;^  to  give  life  to 
wax-figures  representing  a  furious  crocodile,  ^  a 
fish,^  a  barge  and  its  rowers;^  to  become  invis- 
ible;^ to  read  a  sealed  letter^ — ^all  that  the  ''Wise" 
in  Egypt  knew  how  to  accomplish,  at  least  so  it  is 
related  in  the  stories.  Now,  several  men  who 
really  existed  (such  as  Amenophis,  son  of  Hapi, 
who  under  the  reign  of  Amenophis  III  was  adored 
during  his  life  and  who  enjoyed,  even  in  the  closing 
period  of  ancient  Egypt,  the  reputation  of  an 

^  Maspero,  Les  contes  populaires,  p.  xlvii,  108,  113. 

» Ibid.,  p.  30.  3  p.  34.  4  p.  25.  5  p.  28. 

6P.  lu.  'P.  153-  139. 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt 


299 


invincible  magician  0  seem  to  have  possessed, 
indeed,  a  power  of  suggestion  and  intuition  which 
placed  them  above  and  beyond  humanity. 

It  is  in  connection  with  the  Pharaoh  that  the 
most  famous  magicians  appear  to  us.  We  see 
them,  the  "scribes  of  the  double  house  of  life," 
repairing  to  the  King's  council,  laden  with  their 
scrolls,  whenever  their  advice  is  needed  about 
things  human  and  divine:  here,  they  have  to 
divert  the  king  by  legerdemain,^  there,  they 
are  sent  for  to  give  aid  to  an  allied  prince;^  now 
some  foreign  magician  comes  to  defy  the  scribes 
of  the  Pharaoh  4  and  to  challenge  them  in  the  way 
described  in  Exodus.^ 

This  might  be  the  place  to  ask  how  in  ordinary 
life  an  individual  became  a  magician.  Was  this 
office  attained  through  a  supernatural  revelation, 
teaching  the  incumbent  the  art  of  making  use  of 
talismans  and  formulae?  Was  it  through  initia- 
tion received  from  another  magician?  The  texts 
as  yet  known  explain  all  magic  power  as  dependent 
on  the  possession  and  knowledge  of  formulae ;  but 

^  Maspero,  Histoire,  ii,  p.  448. 

'  Conte  du  roi  Khoufoui  et  des  magiciens  (Maspero,  Contes, 
P-  23). 

3  Conte  de  lafille  du  prince  de  Bakhtan,  p.  16. 

4  2*  Conte  de  Satni  Khamoi's,  p.  131. 
s  Exodus,  vii. 


300         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


it  is  probable  that  in  Egypt,  as  elsewhere,  this 
knowledge  had  to  be  accompanied  by  a  state  of 
particular  blessing,  resulting  from  initiation  or  re- 
velation. Up  to  the  present  time,  documents  are 
too  few  and  the  interpretations  that  have  been 
given  them  not  sufficiently  valid  to  authorise  us 
to  say  by  whom  or  by  what  means  the  magician 
was  initiated.  It  is  presumable,  on  the  other 
hand,  that  the  power  of  the  magician  became 
manifest  by  some  material  sign.  Such  a  sign,  in 
Australia,  is  a  substance  reputed  to  be  magic:  a 
piece  of  rock-crystal,  for  instance,  which  the  magi- 
cian is  supposed  to  have  absorbed  at  the  time  of 
his  initiation ;  or,  it  is  the  bone  of  a  dead  person 
which  is  supposed  to  protect  him.  According  to 
the  texts  in  the  pyramids,  the  magic  ihikaou) 
of  an  individual  is  considered  as  a  material  sub- 
stance that  must  be  eaten  or  assimilated  in  some 
way,  and  the  presence  of  which  in  the  body  is 
necessary  to  confer  magic  power  on  the  gods,  the 
dead,  or  the  magicians,  just  as  the  piece  of  rock- 
crystal  is  considered  necessary  to  the  endowment 
of  an  Australian  sorcerer.^ 

Magic  science  and  the  prestige  attached  to  it 

^  C/.  the  suggestive  study  of  Mauss:  Vorigine  des  pouvoirs 
magiques  dans  les  societes  australiennes ,  1904.  For  the  texts  in 
the  Pyramids,  cf.  Ounas,  506,  518;  and  Lefebure,  Sphinx,  vii, 
p.  29. 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  301 


were  to  be  obtained  by  arduous  poring  over  books 
and  by  leading  an  exemplary  life.  The  magician 
had  to  avoid  the  temptations  of  the  flesh;  ritual 
purity^  and  chastity^  were  among  the  conditions 
of  his  power.  He  lived,  therefore,  beyond  human- 
ity, lost  in  his  dreams,  his  mind  wandering  and 
obsessed  by  the  formulae  that  give  sovereign 
power:  a  certain  hero  of  the  popular  tales,  having 
gained  the  possession  of  an  all-powerful  scroll, 
"no  longer  saw  nor  heard,  so  constantly  did  he 
recite  his  pure  and  holy  chapter;  he  no  longer 
approached  women,  no  longer  ate  meat  or  fish." 
Another  one  "busied  himself  with  nothing  else 
in  the  world  but  his  roll  of  magic  formulae,  that 
he  unfolded  and  read  before  any  comer. "  ^ 

Surrounded  by  these  inspired  men,  the  Pharaoh 
himself  possessed,  by  intuition,  the  science  which 
actuated  them.  As  a  son  of  the  gods,  endowed 
with  supernatural  blessings,  armed  with  magic 

^  The  text  called  story  of  the  Destruction  of  Men  gives  the  fol- 
lowing indications  about  the  ritual  purity  of  the  magician:  "He 
who  pronounces  these  words  must  anoint  himself  with  balm 
and  pure  oil.  He  must  have  a  censer  in  his  hands,  also  be 
anointed  with  perfume  behind  his  two  ears.  His  lips  must  be 
purified  with  natron.  He  is  clothed  with  two  new  garments 
and  he  wears  wooden  shoes.  On  his  tongue  is  an  image  of  Mait, 
painted  in  fresh  colours.  Whenever  Thot  wants  to  read  this 
book  to  Ra,  he  purifies  himself  with  purifications  lasting  nine 
days.    Priest  and  men  must  do  the  same." 

2  G.  Maspero,  Contes,  p.  102.  3  Ibid.,  p.  120. 


302         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


weapons,  crowned  with  animated  diadems,  in 
which  goddesses  were  incarnated,  his  forehead 
bound  with  the  uraeus  (the  goddess  of  incanta- 
tions) ^  the  king  was  the  first  and  the  most  power- 
ful of  magicians.  If  he  so  desired,  he  commanded 
nature;  his  shouts,  which  were  Hke  the  roaring  of 
the  thunder,  called  forth  the  storms;  the  water 
of  the  desert  sprang  forth  at  his  command,  and 
the  overflow  of  the  Nile  obeyed  his  decrees.  The 
Pharaoh  thus  appears  to  us  gifted  with  the  same 
supernatural  and  magic  powers  as  the  king  of 
the  weather,  the  harvest,  the  rain,  the  fire,  and 
the  water,  still  existing  in  our  day  among  the 
savages.''  It  is  therefore  with  reason  that  an 
official  text  of  the  XVIth  dynasty  thus  praises 
King  Ahmes:  "The  terrors  of  Thot  are  beside 
him;  for  the  god  has  given  him  his  knowledge  of 
things;  it  is  he  who  guides  the  scribes  in  their 
doctrines;  he  is  the  Great  Magician,  the  master 
of  charms."^  In  the  king  was  the  inexhaustible 
source  of  the  "fluid  of  life"  and  of  the  "magic 
power";  it  was  the  duty  of  the  "Wise  men,"  as- 

^  A.  Moret,  Du  caractere  religieux  de  la  royaute  pharaonigue^ 
p.  284  and  following. 

Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough,  2d  ed.,  1900,  i,  p.  166.  Cf.  Sphinx, 
vii,  p.  167. 

3  Inscription  of  King  Ahmes  (Annales  du  Service  des  An- 
tiquites,  iv,  p.  28). 


Magic  in  Ancient  Egypt  303 


sistants  of  the  king,  to  conduct  the  course  of  this 
magic. 

The  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  this  brief 
study  is  that  Ancient  Egypt  reveals,  notwith- 
standing her  very  advanced  civilisation,  a  mental 
state  that,  in  some  respects,  was  still  on  a  level 
with  that  of  savage  peoples.  The  magician 
occupied  a  foremost  position  because  he  was  the 
man  who  observed,  who  learned,  who  knew. 
He  recognised  certain  laws,  such  as  that  of 
cause  and  effect;  he  noted  certain  facts  of  mi- 
raculous aspect  which  are  to-day  explained  by 
magnetism,  suggestion,  telepathy.  Magic  science 
rests  then  partly  upon  accurate  observation.  The 
magician  was  in  error  in  asserting  that  he  had  con- 
trol over  these  laws  and  facts,  not  only  in  the  case 
of  experimental  facts  observed  once  and  repeated 
under  identical  conditions,  but  also  in  cases  of 
remote  analogy,  coming  under  the  definition 
of  affinity  or  imitation:  when  such  an  assertion  is 
accepted  as  valid,  the  "science"  of  the  magician 
deteriorates  into  magic.  When  the  magician 
observes  facts  truly,  we  must  consider  him  in 
the  light  of  a  physicist,  a  chemist,  an  astronomer, 
a  physician,  a  psychologist  of  primitive  times; 
when  he  leaves  the  ground  of  experimental  test, 
he  becomes  a  sorcerer  and  a  necromancer.  As 


304         Time  of  the  Pharaohs 


the  scientific  method  in  Ancient  Egypt  had  not 
as  yet  advanced  very  far,  the  character  of  the 
sorcerer  in  this  dual  personality  naturally  pre- 
vailed over  that  of  the  physician  or  the  physicist. 
To  give  the  weight  of  authority  to  his  sayings 
the  magician  drew  liberally  from  mythology;  he 
claimed  the  patronage  of  the  gods,  and,  in  default 
of  convincing  experiences  in  real  life,  he  quoted 
divine  legends,  and  these,  though  unverified,  are 
accepted  by  popular  belief.  In  a  word,  we  may 
apply  to  Egypt  the  conclusions  of  Professor 
Frazer :  Magic  has  only  the  appearance  of  science. 
Yet  this  is  sufficient  to  explain  the  strong  at- 
traction which  magic,  like  science,  has  exercised, 
at  all  times,  over  the  human  mind.  Even  to-day, 
it  not  infrequently  happens  that  the  investigator, 
weary  and  disappointed,  takes  refuge  in  it,  as  if 
it  were  an  elevated  place,  from  which  he  is  shown 
the  future,  far  off,  in  the  dazzling  light  of  a  dream.  ^ 

^Frazer,  The  Golden  Bough,  26.  ed.,  1900,  i,  pp.  61-62;  iii, 
pp.  458-460. 


INDEX 


A 

Abdellatif,  mentioned,  12 
Abti-Roasch,    the   centre  of 

culture  at,  109;  the  pyramid 

at,  180 
Abu  Simbel,  the  speos  of,  5 
Abusir,  the  plain  of,  16,  166 
Abydos,  the  site  of,  4,  107 
Udge  de  la  pier  re  et  les  metaux 

en  Egypte,  107 
Aha,  the  name  of,  138 
Aha-Menes,  king  of  Negadeh, 

148 

Ahmes,  King,  the  praise  of, 
302 

Alasia,  the  shores  of,  97 
Amelineau,  the  discoveries  of, 

106,  107,  108,  136 
Amen6phis    L,    a  structure 

built  by,  48 
Amen6phis  II.,  the  tomb  of,  24 
Amendphis  III.,  the  reliefs  of, 

12 

Amen6phis  IV.,  the  heretic 

king,  33,  55 
Amen6phises,  halls  erected  by 

the,  2 

Amentit,  the  goddess,  203 
Amon,  the  god,  49 
Amouri,  the  land  of  the,  72 
Anou,  the  striking  of  the,  155 
305 


Antiquit^s,  the  Egyptian  Ser- 
vice des,  8 
Anubis,  the  god,  193,  194,  206 
Anz-ab,  149 

Apophis,  the  evil  spirit,  289 
"Ap-ro,"  the  redemptory  rit- 
ual of,  200 
Arab-Hiba,  72 

Arad-Hiba,  the  correspond- 
ence of,  59 

Arcelin,  the  geologist,  102 

Archseological  Institute,  the, 
in  Cairo,  27 

Ashmoleum,  the,  129 

Assouan,  granite  from,  180 

Athyr,  286 

Atoum,  245 

Aventures  de  Sinouhit,  89 
Aziron,  72 

B 

Ba,  the  spiritual  soul,  188 
Bakhtan,  the  prince  of,  97,  282 
B  alias,  109 

Barsanti,  M.,  a  superintendent 
in  the  Service  des  Anti- 
quit^s,  22,  66,  172 

Bast,  the  divine  cat,  277 

Beit-Allam,  the  type  of,  135 

Bennon,  244 

Bes,  295 


3o6 


Index 


Bioxides  of  Sinai  manganese, 
126 

Bissing,  von,  2 

Book  of  the  Dead,  the,  206, 
218  ff. 

Borchardt,  M.,  148 

Bouriant,  M.,  57 

Bow,  the  clan  of  the,  162 

Breasted,  J.  H.,  the  explora- 
tion of,  27 

Bournabouryash,  the  king 
of  Babylon,  75 

Buto,  the  capital  at,  156 

C 

Cairo,  the  Museum  of,  27 
Canaan,  the  land  of,  83 
Capart,  J.,  the  work  of,  115 
Champollion,   the  expedition 
of,  15 

Chantre,  M.,  the  collection  of, 
63 

Cheops,  King,  9 
Cheops,  the  pyramid,  178 
Chephren,  the  pyramid,  178 
Choisy,   author  of  V Art  de 

hdtir  chez  les  Egyptiens,  40 
Coptos,  153 

D 

Danga,  the  dancing  dwarf  of 

the,  212 
Daressy,  M.,  author  oi  Annates 

du  Service des  Antiquites,  12, 

21 

Dashur,  the  residence  of,  166 
Davis,  Theodore  M.,  the  ex- 
cavations of,  27 
Debuts  de  I' art  en  Egypte,  Les, 
115 


Deir-el-Bahri,  the  shrine  at, 

5,  23 
Delattre,  P.,  72 
Delta,  the  region  of  the,  24 
de  Morgan,  the  discoveries  of, 

106 

Den,  the  king,  137 
Denderah,  the  temples  at,  5; 

the  hypostyle  of,  6 
Dog,  the  clan  of  the,  162 
Doudou,  the  Egyptian  deputy, 

73 

Dushratta,  the  king  of  Mi- 
tanni,  82 

E 

Edfu,  the  temples  at,  5;  the 

arrangement  of,  6 
Egypt  Exploration  Fund,  the 

society  described  as,  27 
El-Amarna,  the  letters  of,  65 

ff.,  90 
El-Amrah,  109 
El-K^b,  109 
Erman,  Adolf,  57 
Erment,  the  temple  of,  13 
Esneh,  the  hypostyle  hall  of,  14 
Eunead,  the  great,  243 

F 

Fayt^m,  the  region  of  the,  24; 

the  oases  of  the,  166 
Felidae,  the  figures  of,  117 
Fouquet,  Doctor,  137 
Frazer,  Professor,  works  by, 

302  ff. 

G 

G6bel-Tarif,  114 


Index 


307 


Ghaffirs,  the  guardians  of  the 

ruins,  25 
Gizeh,  the  residence  of,  166 
Golden  Bough,  The,  304 
Gournah,  the  ruins  of,  4 
Grand-Pasha,  the  calculations 

made  by,  34 
Grebault,  Monsieur,  the  work 

of,  1892-1897,  20 
Green,  M.,  131 

H 

Hagg^g,  Abu'l,  the  mosque  of, 

Haggi-Kandil,  the  village  of, 
55 

Halevy,  M.,  62 

Hamy,  the  naturalist,  102 

Hapi,  298 

Hithor,  a  chapel  of  the  god- 
dess, 23;  the  god,  160 

Hawks,  the  clan  of  the,  162 

Heliopolis,  the  theologians  of, 
164;  the  gods  of,  238 

Heraclespolitan  dynasties,  the, 
48  ^ 

H^r^dia,  J.  M.  de,  mentioned, 
5 

Heuzey,  M.,  the  researches  of, 
153 

Hierakonpolis,  the  tomb  of, 

109,  132,  156 
HomoUe,  M.,  50 
Hor,  the  god,  160 
Hordidiff,   the   royal  prince, 

230 

Horus,  the  hawk,  141 
Horas,  the  priests  of,  6 
Horus,  the  revenge  of,  loi 
Hyksos,  the  invasion  of  the,  10 


I 

lalu,  the  fields  of,  206 
Imhotep,  the  courtier,  176 
Ishtar-Astarte,  the  statue  of 

Our  Lady,  90 
Isis,  281 

Ismail,  the  IQiedive,  102 
J 

Journal  des  Debats,  the  sub- 
scription raised  by  the,  20 
Journey  of  an  Egyptian,  The, 


Ka,  the  significance  of  the 

word,  188 
Kallima-Sin,  the  daughter  of, 

87 

Kardounyash,  the  king  of,  81 

Karnak,  the  independent  dis- 
trict of,  2,  25;  the  recon- 
struction of,  40  ff. 

Kawamil,  109 

Khargieh,  the  oasis  of,  109 

Khasekhem,  149,  156 

Khasekhemui,  the  tomb  of, 
141,  171 

Kheta,  the  customs  of,  90 

Khonsu,  the  Theban,  97 

Khonsu,  the  temples  of,  4;  the 
god, 283 

Khounatonou,  the  city  of,  56 

Khufu,  King,  186 

Koptos,  the  temple  of,  280 

Kourigalzou,  the  reign  of,  84 

L 

Lacau,  M.  Pierre,  mentioned, 
27 


308 


Index 


Lapwing,  the  clan  of  the,  162 
Lef^bure,  M.,  deductions  of, 
249  ff. 

Legrain,  M.  Georges,  the 
method  of  support  intro- 
duced by,  2 1 ,  36 

Lenormant,  F.,  the  naturalist, 
102 

Lepsius,  the  expedition  of,  15 
Lock  of  Hair,  the  clan  of  the, 
162 

London  Times,  the  subscrip- 
tion raised  by  the,  20 

Loret,  Monsieur,  the  effective 
work  of ,  20 

Luxor,  the  preservation  at,  4, 
18 

Lythgoe,  M.,  the  arch^o- 
logical  missions  of,  27 

M 

Mageddo,  96 

Mait,  the  Lady  of  Right  and 

Truth,  235 
Mane,  the  ambassador,  86 
Manetho,  the  history  of,  99 
Mariette,  the  work  of,  15,  16, 

17;  death  of,  17 
Maspero,  G.,  author  of  Bihli- 

othegue    Egyptologique,  13, 

14,  17,  18  ff. 
Medinet  Habu,  the  splendid 

buildings  of,  21 
Meidun,  the  residence  of,  166 
Memphite  dynasties,  the,  125 
Menes,  the  first  king  of  Egypt, 

139 

Mera,  the  tombs  of,  124 
Merbapen,  138 


Merit-Neit,  the  wife  of  Aha, 
149 

Mersekh,  the  king,  138 
Miebais,  149 
Milkili,  75 
Min,  the  god,  160 
Mitanni,  the  country  of,  81 
Montouhotpou,  the  temple  of 
a,  2 

Morgan,    Monsieur    de,  the 
work  in  preservation  of,  20 
Musee  Guimet,  the,  124 
Mycerinus,  the  pyramid  of, 
178 

N 

Naharima,  the  land  of,  97 

Nar,  the  fish,  163 

Narmer,  King,  the  name  of, 

138,  148 
Natron,  the  lake  of,  251 
Naville,  M.,  the  trophies  of, 

2,  23 

Negadeh,  the  discoveries  at, 

108,  131 
Nekyes,  the  reign  of  the,  139 
Nephthys,  194,  242 
Nesa,  the  statue  of,  115 
Nile,  the  average  rising  of  the 

bed  of  the,  34 
Nofirka,  the  structure  of,  174 
Nouit,  the  sycamore  tree  of, 

229,  242 
Nu,  240 

O 

0-mel-Gaab,  the  necropolis  of, 
136 

Oppert,  M.,  57 

Osiris,  the  temple  of,  48,  loi 


Index 


309 


Osiris  Khontamenti,  143 
Osymandyas,  the  tomb  of,  285 
Ouadi  Haifa,  22 
Ouady-Hammamat,  the  quar- 
ries of,  52,  153 
Ounamonou,  the  priest,  97 
Ounas,  the  pyramid  of,  179, 
210  ff. 

Ousaphais,  King,  149,  170,  280 
Ousirniri,  the  edifice  of,  i 
Ousirtasen    III.,    the  pillars 
erected  by,  2,  48 

P 

Palermo,  the  stone  of,  154 
Pepi  I.,  9,  210 
Perabsen,  King,  loi,  145 
Petrie  collection,  the,  125 
Petrie,    Prof.    Flinders,  the 

tranlations  of,  60,  104,  105 
Pharaonic  Diplomacy,  55  ff. 
Philse,    the    temples    at,  5; 

description  of,  6,  26 
Phtah,  the  temple  of,  10,  157 
Pount,  the  country  of,  154 
Psamteks,  the  time  of  the,  222 
Pyramids,  around  the,  166  ff. 

Q 

Qa,  the  king,  138 
Qoceir,  153 

Quibell,  M.,  the  supervision 
of,  24,  148 

R 

Ra,  the  reign  of  King,  10 1 
Rameseum,  the  perilous  con- 
dition of  the,  4,  46 
Ramses  II.,  the  temple  of,  28 
Ramses  III.,  the  discovery  of 
the  temple  of,  4,  47 


Red  Kingdom  of  the  North, 
156 

Reisner,  Dr.,  the  excavations 
of,  27 

Rib-Addi,  the  correspondence 
of,  59 

RoselHni,  the  expedition  of,  15 
"Royal  Canon,"  the,  of  Turin, 
100 

S 

Said,  the  region  of  the,  24 
Sakkarah,  the  plain  of,  16,  25, 
166 

Sargon,   the    elder,   king  of 

Babylonia,  62 
Satmi,  261 

Schweinfurth,  Dr.,  109 
Seb,  the  time  of,  loi,  206 
Sechmet,  278 

Sekhet  lalu,  the  land  of  the 

reeds,  204 
Semempses,  149 
Senosiris,  261 
Sepa,  the  statue  of,  115 
Serapeum,  the  discovery  of  the, 

47 

Set,  the  god,  loi,  160 
Sethe,  Kurt,  147 
Seti  I.,  the  temple  of,  28 
Shamas-niki,  the  man  of,  60 
Shou,  242 

Shu,  the  reign  of,  loi,  160 
Shumardata,  75 
Silsileh,  the  quarries  of,  52, 
109 

Sinouhit,  the  embarrassment 
of,  89 

Sitatama,  the  daughter  of,  85 
Sneferu,  King,  105,  177 


310 


Index 


Sokar-Osiris,  261 
Sondou,  King,  loi,  145 
Sphinxes,  the  avenue  of  the,  2 

T 

Tadouhipa,  the  marriage  of,  86 
Tafnouit,  242 

Temples,  the  restoration  of  the 

Egyptian,  i  ff. 
Tetou-nou,  61 

Theban  Phtah,  the  temple  of, 
47 

Theodosius  I.,  an  edict  of,  8 
Thinis,  the  site  of,  99 
Thinite,  the  kingdom  of,  108 
Thot,  194 

Thothmes,  the  obelisk  of,  2, 
30 

Thothmes  III.,  the  court  of,  4; 
the  architectural  work  of,  9, 
48 

Thoutii,  the  fame  of,  97 
Tii,  Queen,  55 
Torr,  Cecil,  132 
Touaregs,  the  veils  worn  by 
the,  117 


Toukh,  109,  131 

Toum,  241 

Toum-Ra,  242 

Turah,  limestone  from,  180 

U 

Ursus,  the  totem  of,  163 
Usephais,  King,  9 

V 

Ventre-Pasha,  the  calculation 

made  by,  34 
Vulture,  the  totem  of  the,  163 

W 

Weill,  M.,  the  researches  of, 
150 

White  Kingdom  of  the  South, 


Zaouiet-el- Aryan,  172,  174  ff. 
Zargara,  the  messenger,  88 
Zeser,  King,  loi,  175 
Zet,  138 


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